Sacrifices
by A.Friend410
Summary: Arrangements had been made and now it was up to him to choose. He could deny the request and still live his life unknowing where it would lead him, or he can accept it and cement his future. The only problem was he wasn't the only one who would be affected by his choice. For southernbeauty13 who asked for this story with the pairing of Hiccup and my OC Eira. Hiccup/OC pairing.
1. Part One

**Sacrifices**

**Summary: Arrangements had been made and now it was up to him to choose. He could deny the request and still live his life unknowing where it would lead him, or he can accept it and cement his future. The only problem was he wasn't the only one who would be affected by his choice.**

**Part One:**

It wasn't unheard of that Berk would receive visitors. It was unheard of that Hiccup didn't know about it. Especially, when the guest was the Chief of another high-ranking tribe. At least he was given some heads up thanks to his father the night before telling him to take a small flight about the island rather than their larger luxurious one with his dragon. So, after his flight, he met his dad at the docks already seeing the incoming ships on the horizon. Neither Haddock men knew why the other Chief was anchoring on their shores, but it did seem important from the letter Stoick had read. Hiccup could only assume that it might be a dragon problem. With Berk being at peace with the beasts for over a year thanks to him and Toothless. It wasn't the best-kept secret that his father had hoped it would be. Yet, lucky for them they had more allies than enemies, so helping control other raids in neighboring tribes was never a problem. Not for the dragon riders.

When the shipped finally docked a few Vikings help secure it as the two men stood ready to greet their guests.

Stoick took a glance at Hiccup and quickly whispered, "Try to hold your shoulders back, son. This Chief isn't one you want to appear small."

"Who is it, dad?" Hiccup never received an answer from him, instead, it was answered by the chief in question stepping up on the boards of the dock.

"Presenting the Chief of the Southern Sea Walker Tribe, the conquer of- "

"Odin's sake Buck," the man called. "Just say my name and be done with it. They know who I am. I sent a damn letter."

The announcer apologized and continued, "Illfuss Osterburg."

A very large Viking stepped into view. He was roughly the size of Stoick with dark hair that had pepper of grey in it along with his beard. His icy blue eyes were what frighten Hiccup the most. It was like he automatically glared at him. His voice seemed the opposite when addressing the other Chief. "Stoick! My old friend!"

"Illfuss," Stoick beamed shaking his hand.

"How's this old piece of rock been treating you?"

"Just as well as your land lock one."

Both laughed at the jokes made and after their greetings to one another, the guest scanned the people there. His eyes locked on Hiccup. "And this must be your son. Hiccup was it?" He offered his hand to shake.

"Yes, sir. That's me," Hiccup said shaking the man's hand but wincing at the strength he used. Toothless growled at him causing him to back up in surprise.

"What is that?"

It was Hiccup's turn to smirk, "This is Toothless."

"That's a- a- "

Hiccup nodded, "A Night Fury, yes."

Illfuss was astonished seeing the black dragon. "So, the rumors were true you really do conquer dragons."

"We prefer the word _train_," Hiccup corrected. "But yes. Berk is finally at peace with them thanks to my friends and me."

"Unbelievable," was all he said. Then he raised a hand slightly towards Toothless. "May I?" He shrunk back when Toothless growled at him again.

The lanky boy jumped a little in front trying to keep his dragon calm. "Maybe later. He's a little grouchy when he hasn't eaten."

The visitor nodded. "Of course." Then he chuckled, "Sounds like us aye Stoick?"

Stoick laughed with him agreeing but turned to the matter at hand. "What do we owe the visit Illfuss? The letter you sent was a little vague."

The man agreed that it was. "That's because I believe what I want to say is better left said in person. I also, believe that it is better to discuss in private."

"We can go to my hut then," Stoick said and ushered the male in the direction of the building. Illfuss gave his men orders to stay at the dock as he went.

On the way to the house Illfuss suggested that Hiccup should go and feed his dragon while the two Chieftains talked.

"I'm training my son to be the future Chief of Berk Illfuss. This would be a good opportunity to show him how two civil Vikings conduct business."

"Very well," he said. "Hope you have enough food at the house to feed him."

When arriving Toothless past all them up heading straight towards Hiccup's room to stuff his belly full of fish that awaited him. Stoick offered the other Chief a seat while they took their own. Then the Berkian Chief pulled out the rolled-up scroll to discuss the cryptic message. "What is all this about Illfuss? And please none of your vague words."

He sighed, "All right. It's about our treaty."

Immediately Hiccup jumped to conclusions, "If it's because of the dragons we have I can assure you that we don't- "

The visiting Chief cut him off raising a calm hand to the lad. "No boy, it's not about your dragons. But I would imagine Berk has also become a larger target because of it right Stoick?"

"Nothing we can't handle."

"Hm." Then there was silence for a few moments as the Chief thought, "Now I don't want to break our treaty, Stoick. It would be ill-advised to do so."

"Agreed," he spoke. "So why are you here?"

"What if I told you I wanted to make our treaty stronger? More permanent?"

"Where are you going with this?" Stoick asked.

"Yeah, where is he going with this?" Hiccup thought studying both his father's and other chief's facial expressions.

Another sigh left the other chief, "Your son is of marrying age, is he not?"

Hiccup became very confused wondering why he was being dragged into this all the sudden. It was about the treaty and he had nothing to do with coming up with those fine details between the two tribes. He even mouthed the word "what" as his green eyes when wide in shock.

Stoick's eyes were giving Illfuss a cold stare, "He is, but why are you asking?"

"Well, so is my daughter."

Right away Stoick knew what the man meant. "Are you suggesting- "

"I am, so what do you think?"

"What's going on?" Hiccup interrupted, "and what does this treaty have to do with me and your daughter? And why are you asking about my age?" As soon as he asked, it seemed the dots had finally connected for the young Haddock and he was a little terrified. "Are you asking me to marry your daughter?!"

Illfuss gave him a solid nod. "Indeed, I am lad, so what do you say, Stoick?"

The young dragon rider was in shock, "but why!"

Stoick was curious too, "Yes, Illfuss why are you suggesting something like this, even after all these years?"

Hiccup looked at his dad in disbelief. Apparently, this was not the first time something like this was brought up.

The father sighed sadly, "I want to make sure she's taken care of. I already named who will be the next Chief in my village and unfortunately, he is already married."

"Wouldn't she be the next chief though?" Hiccup asked.

"Hiccup," Stoick explained, "Some tribes have old laws that won't allow women to be chief. Illfuss' tribe is one of them." He turned his attention back to the other man, "And that's why you came here?"

He nodded, "Admittedly Berk was not my first choice Stoick and not for the reasons you think."

That statement solidifies that they did talk about this before. It made Hiccup a little self-conscious knowing that."

"But here I am and I'm asking _you _this time Stoick," Illfuss asked, "Would you build an alliance within our tribes through a marriage?"

Hiccup stared at his father waiting for his response. There wouldn't be any way that he would agree to this. He was still a young teen for Thor's sake.

It was a while before Stoick spoke again, "Illfuss like I told you earlier I have started training my son as Chief. It is a slow process since he has other duties elsewhere in the village. However, it is a working one. This meeting was a great learning opportunity." Illfuss was looking more defeated the more Stoick talked while Hiccup was more relieved. "That being said I think my son should be making this decision."

"What!" Both of them yelled their eyes looking at each other.

Illfuss was the first to snap at the idea. "You can't be serious Stoick. He's just a boy."

"A boy who you are asking to alter his future. To make a commitment to a complete stranger."

"She's not a stranger," he snapped, but then stopped when slowly coming to terms to what Stoick was saying.

"She is Illfuss, just like my son is a stranger to her. Now I know you didn't force your daughter into this. How long did you give her to decide?"

"A week," he sighed. "It took her a week to agree after I asked her."

Stoick then turned to his son, "then you have a week to decide as well, Hiccup."

"Are you two serious?" He was completely baffled at the two men especially when he saw both nodded. He gulped, and he was feeling slightly light-headed. He heard his name and turned to Illfuss.

"The treaty that our two tribes have won't be affected by your decision."

"Th-thank you?"

"Yes, Illfuss thank you." Stoick said and then thought, "At least he won't feel any pressure from that."

After the small meeting, Illfuss and his men were invited to stay on Berk for the week. It gave the two current Chiefs a chance to catch up and rebuild any loose ends in the treaty that currently stood. Hiccup, on the other hand, went straight on the back of his dragon to the academy. He was hoping some of the antics of his friends would distract him. When he landed, they all noticed a difference in him.

Astrid was the first to ask, "Hiccup are you okay?"

"Okay?" he blinked at her rapidly. "Yeah, okay. I'm okay." He jumped around some to shake off the nerves.

"Are you sure?" Fishlegs asked.

"Yeah, because you look whiter then the sheet, we used to trap Snotlout in that hole during Snoggletog after a snowstorm," Tuffnut said and Ruffnut high fived him for bringing up an awesome memory.

"I still hate you guys for that!" Snotlout crossed his arms.

Hiccup shook his head again to get his senses back. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had an interesting talk with my dad and one of our allied Chiefs."

"Oh, so that's who anchored on our shores," Fishlegs said making Hiccup nod.

"My dad says the crest on the sails belongs to the Sea-Walkers Tribe," Snotlout explained. "He also said Chief Illfuss is a tough as Stoick in battle." He then turned to Astrid and flirted, "but not as tough as a Jorgenson." He flexed his bicep at her causing her to roll her eyes and shiver in disgust.

"That would be the one," Hiccup said fidgeting with some of the equipment in the ring.

"Well, what did he want?" the blonde asked.

A nervous chuckle mixed with his words, "Oh you know. The usual. Discussing the treaty, the two tribes have, a little about dragons, and oh I have to decide if I want to get married in seven days."

"WHAT!" all their jaws dropped, including the dragons.

Ruffnut was the first one to regain herself from the shock, "What do you mean the M-word?"

"You know the whole walk down the aisle, place a ring on a finger and pledge yourself to another person type M-word."

"Why the hell would you do that?"

Astrid answered, "He's not." Then paused and asked, "Right?"

All their eyes were locked on him and he felt like he was backed into a corner, especially with them questioning him and badgering him about it. They kept it up until he couldn't take it anymore.

"I don't know!" he screamed. He calmed down and said it again at them, "I don't know okay. I- I have to go." He hopped on the back of Toothless and he headed out of the arena. Hiccup going there seemed to be a huge mistake.

The next area Hiccup went to was the Black Smith shop. He was hoping Gobber would have something to work on to distract him. Luckily, for him the Viking did and soon the young rider was pounding away and shaping a piece of steel into a nice weapon. He wiped away the sweat on his brow when placing the thing into a barrel of water.

Gobber watched him work and was worried but he never pressed on the matter. He knew the boy would talk when he was ready. Though Gobber never had the patience for waiting, so when he heard the lad sigh for the fourth time did he ask, "Is there something troubling you lad?"

Hiccup took it as a sign to sit down on a stool and place his head in his hands.

That's when Gobber heard a hard sob come from him. Immediately the one arm Viking went to him and placed his good hand on his back. It took a while but Gobber was able to get the whole story from the boy. He was shocked at what he heard, and he didn't even know how to handle it.

Hiccup was crying as he spoke, "I don't know what to do Gobber. I don't think I can make this decision."

The adult had pity in his eyes and felt back for the boy. He patted his back and tried to help. "I don't think you have a choice." He heard him groan and try to hold back another sob. "Look Hiccup you were given two saving graces here. One they allowed you to choose what happens. Most families don't even allow that. I doubt the girl had a say in it the way that tribe is set in their ways, so be thankful for that." Hiccup sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve as he continued, "Second they gave you a week to make this choice. So, my advice, take a day or two to calm down then start to ask them questions about _this_ because clearly, something stopped you from flat out saying no to the offer. Figure out what that was, it will help you to make a clear concision decision." Gobber stood up and picked Hiccup on his feet, "Now go home, rest, and start fresh tomorrow morning."

The young rider nodded, but before heading home he decided he was going to take a long _long _flight.

Gobber watched him take off and sighed. He was very worried about the boy, more so because he thought of him as a son. Decisions like this were ones that could change a person's life forever and most time it was not for the better.

It was a long and restless night for Hiccup and it showed as he pushed around his breakfast on his plate. Toothless even felt the uneasiness within his rider and even Stoick felt it too but neither pushed the lad. So, all three ate in silence. That was until Stoick went to set off for the day.

"Dad," Hiccup finally spoke. The father acknowledged him, and he continued, "This wasn't the first time this was brought up was it?"

Stoick sighed and bowed his head. He took his seat before answering. "No, it wasn't. I admit that I had asked a couple of Chiefs if they were willing to make this arrangement when you were a bae. It was shortly after your mother passed. Another was when I had a close call in a raid when you were a young boy."

"But why?"

"I didn't want to leave you alone." Stoick paused and commented, "Just odd how Illfuss offered this time. He's very protective of his daughter. Turned me away very sternly when I asked those times."

Hiccup tapped his fork on his plate thinking. It wasn't long until he asked another question, "What happen to her if I say no?"

"I'm not sure."

He knew that was a lie and called him out on it, "You spent all day with him talking. He told you. I know he did, so tell me."

Stoick let out a deep breath grinning a smidge under his beard, "You're too smart you know that?"

"What did he say, dad," the son pried again.

"I don't want this to influence your decision, "he explained but knew anything being said was going to do that. "He will be asking other Chiefs the same he asked of you."

That confused the young Haddock, "but he said we were the last- "

Stoick cut him off, "the last one with someone around her own age." He saw the flash of horror in his son's green eyes. "Illfuss will be asking other Chiefs if they will take his daughter as a wife or even a second one."

"A second wife? What does that mean?"

"She will be offered to live with a Chief and his wife." The larger haddock tried to tell explain delicately, but Hiccup wasn't having it and forced Stoick to tell the whole truth. "If lucky she would only be there to help keep their house in order. Knowing other Chiefs though she will be used as a consort or even to produce them an heir." He tried to backpedal after seeing how white his son's face became. "It's not the worse life she could have Hiccup. It's just hard when she comes from a high-ranking tribe."

"How could you say that?" He asked. "She's guaranteed to be…" he trailed off feeling sick. All he could imagine was some Viking his father's age being with a young girl like Astrid. He held down the bile that threatened to raise up.

Stoick then tried to help his son but wasn't sure if it did. "She made her choice Hiccup. She knows what she was getting into. Now you need to make the best one for you." Again, he took a break collecting his thoughts, "I know you like the Hofferson girl. Astrid. You need to take those feelings into account."

With everything going on in his head Hiccup forgot that part of him had a crush on the blonde. It felt strange to realize that could happen. Yet what his father said next was somewhat an impossible task to do on his end.

"You need to think about what's best for you. What would make you happy and no one else?" Stoick stood up and went to pat his son on the back. "If it makes you feel better, I know you will make the right one." He then left his boy alone in the house with his head more distraught than when first hearing of the proposal.

Sensing his riders distress Toothless came up to Hiccup and nudged him. He whined but the dragon was ignored. He then tried to do some tricks that he picked up that always make the boy chuckle. In this case. It didn't and Toothless whimpered and placed his head on the table giving him a sad puppy look. He received a loose pat on the head and a drawn-out sigh. Finally, the Night Fury was able to get something out of him.

"I don't know Bud. What would you do if you were me?"

Toothless didn't understand the question nor the situation his friend was really in. so, he ended up tilting his head.

Hiccup sighed again but gave a small smile. Another flight sounded like the only right decision he could make and that's what the two did. Another long trip around Berk.

During the flight, Stoick's words kept echoing through his head. That he had to do what was best for him. Yet he couldn't even despite that blessing because it wasn't just him in this situation. And no matter what either father had told him the politics were still an issue in all this. It aggravated Hiccup to no end. Why couldn't his dad just say no? The other chief did it to him plenty of times already. Why did he put it all on him? There were no Chiefly matters involved. And why would Illfuss all the sudden put this on his daughter? His father told him that the man was overprotected of her and now he was willing to give her away. It made no sense. That's when Hiccup realized he needed to have another talk with the other Chief. Good thing he was sticking around.

It didn't take long to find the visitor. He mainly stayed new his ship, a good guess was that the fierce roaming dragons made him nervous. Though it would never cross the man's lips.

"Illfuss," Hiccup called out. When landing he hopped off his dragon and walked right up to the man.

He turned around and stared the teen down.

The Chief didn't speak a word, but Hiccup had a feeling he already knew why he was there in the first place. Yet to make sure he still asked, "I think we need to have another talk."

He waved the young male to follow him and slowly all three of them were taking a stroll on the small beach. Hiccup kept biting his tongue wanting to ask the man a bunch of nagging questions. He was about to when they stopped but Illfuss beat him to it. "Have you reach a decision?"

The lad shook his head, "No sir."

The sigh that left the man left a sharp sting inside Hiccup's chest. "I suppose you wouldn't," he sighed again. "It is a tall order to ask anyone. It's one that I should have never asked my daughter."

"Why did you?"

His eyes and voice were cold when answering, "You don't have the right to know."

That enraged the younger Haddock, "I think I do if you want me to marry your daughter."

"Do you?"

That sprung Hiccup back. How was he supposed to answer that when he had no clue, and nothing was steering him one way or another.

"Because I'm sure you must have had your eye on one of the girls here."

"M-maybe," he stuttered, "but I'm not sure…"

"If she likes you," Illfuss finished for him and the boy nodded almost ashamed of the fact. Neither of them spoke after that. When someone did it was the Viking Chief. "You need to ask her."

Hiccup gave him a confused look.

"The girl you like, boy. You need to ask her how she feels about you."

He gulped and shuffled his feet. "What if she doesn't like me?"

"What if she does?"

Hiccup thought about it but something stopped him from racing off to go find Astrid. He still had one question for the Viking. "What would happen to your daughter if I dent your offer?"

Illfuss sighed the same wave of sadness washed over his face again. "I'm not sure. I don't even know what will happen if you say yes."

That confused the dragon rider until he continued.

"All I know is she would be living on Berk. Anything else, well that's up to you. She would be yours after all. Yours to do with whatever you please."

"You make her sound like she's an object."

"Isn't she?"

The man walked away leaving the lad slacked jaw on the sand. Once the initial shock wore off all Hiccup could be was angry. Angry that a father could treat their child that way. Their _only _child. Especially, when it came to dealing with women. Yet as Hiccup continued to march up the beach something that was said earlier in the week slowed him down. Illfuss' tribe was the type that did not think of women as equals in all aspects of their daily lives. In situations like this, everything going on was normal to them. It was a way of life that Hiccup could not fully come to terms too but knew nothing he could say would change it. However, the way the father looked Hiccup would bet that Illfuss wished he could just to hold onto his daughter.

It was the next day closer to sunset as Hiccup sat in the cove aimlessly tossing rocks into a pool, while Toothless sat a few feet away by the water's edge waiting patiently to nab his next bite. However, the ripples of the rocks being toss were scaring away the fish. The dragon growled a warning at the boy when his patience was up as he scared away another fish.

Hiccup just sighed not noticing his friend's annoyance. He had no clue what to do and he wasn't any closer to figuring this out. He did know that anyone else would have told the man no and that he was crazy, yet Hiccup couldn't. It wracked in his brain why he couldn't, but he just couldn't. He groaned and fell back into the soft ground.

"Well, someone looks worse than a dragon trapped with an eel," Astrid said as she was hopping off her dragon.

Hiccup sat up and the blonde joined him on the ground. He said his usual greetings towards her. It was nice to see a friend at the moment and he told her just that.

She agreed but brought up the topic that was plaguing his mind. "So I take it with Illfuss still being here you haven't made your decision."

He moaned shaking his head and brushing his hair back hoping it would calm him. "No, I don't know what to do Astrid. Everyone I talk to doesn't seem to help me either."

"That should be an indicator then," she said.

"What?"

"Hiccup you not having an answer is the answer. Clearly, you're too young to make this call which means that this insane proposal shouldn't even be an offer anymore. Just tell that Chief no and let's get on with our lives."

For some reason that felt like an insult. Though he was thinking about her words and so he had to ask, "What if it was you?"

"Huh?"

"I mean," a tinge of pink was in his cheeks, "what if you had a chance to marry someone? M-marry me?" His cheeks were bright red and he couldn't look at her. He also couldn't see the blush on her face either.

She took a deep breath to calm herself but it only took a few moments to give him an answer. "Look, Hiccup, I like you. We have… _something… _but you're a really good friend. And we're just too young for anything like that. It's why you need to say no, so you don't have to be in something that's as horrible as a marriage, especially an arrange one."

Hiccup looked Astrid did in the eyes and calmly reminded her, "but she does."

Astrid was taken back by that and tried to retort, "An-and she made that choice. It has nothing to do with you."

"Are… Are you kidding me!?" he snapped and stood up creating some distance between them. "This has everything to do with me! With her! With our tribes! Our families! Even our lives! You have no idea what kind of stress I'm under. What guilt I'm going to have if I make the wrong call! I'm not only choosing my fate but hers as well! For God's sake Astrid I'm the one marrying her!" As soon as the words fell out of his mouth both teens' eyes grew in shock. The next words were barely a mumble, "I'm- I'm going to marry her."

The blonde teen stood up and brushed the dirt off, not once looking at her friend.

"A-Astrid."

"I think you made up your mind Hiccup," her voice was low and seemed stale as she climbed on Stormfly.

Before she could fly away he stopped her. His hand on her foot as he looked at her. "It's better than her being someone else's whore, right? For her to marry me? To be _my_ wife?"

Her blue eyes looked down on him as she spoke, "I wouldn't know. My life's not the one being ruined." She then took off leaving a confused and distraught boy there on the ground.

He fell to his knees staring at the disappearing Nadder. When it became a speck in the sky his head fell in his hands as he began to choke out his sobs.

Toothless hearing this went to his friend to see what was wrong. All the dragon could do was curl around his rider, a wing covering him, sheltering him, as he felt his thin arms wrap around his neck and the wetness of his tears roll onto his scales like rain.

It was now the middle of the night when the front door open and the two boys walked inside the Haddock house. Stoick, at the fire pit keeping it, lit for them. Without looking at them he called out, "You two are out pretty late." He poked the embers a little more before lifting his head to catch a glimpse of his boy. Seeing him the father became concerned. His eyes were puffy red and his skin was pale almost like he was about to vomit. He quickly got up to check on him. "Son, what's wrong?"

Hiccup sniffled wiping his nose across his sleeve. He really didn't want to look at the towering man. Right now, all he could think of is that this was all his fault. Yet, hearing his ad say his name again he held down his anger as much as he could to answer. "I'm fine, dad."

The father didn't buy it, "Are you sure because-"

"I said I'm fine!" he snapped, but then collected himself after seeing both dragon and man step away from him. He took another deep breath and continued more calmly, "I'm fine, dad. I just... I made a decision."

"Oh?" that caught the Chief off guard. He assumed it would take the lad longer to come up with one. That he would at least try to convince the other Viking to give him more time. Though after the months of really understanding his son he knew he wouldn't be surprised by the answer. He was caring and took things to heart, but just like his mother was, he was too adventurous. So it wasn't a shock to see Hiccup's state after realizing what caused it. "So what did you decide?"

Hiccup took a deep breath before answering. He looked at his father in the eyes as he took in his shock expression.

"Are you sure about this? This isn't like making a promise of training the dragons or helping build a fence. It's a commitment. One not can be broken so easily if taken the leap."

Hiccup just nodded. Not in the mod to discuss it any more than he had too. He even cut his father off telling him he was retiring for the night. Stoick only agreed thinking sleeping on it would change the young man's mind. It only made the teen frustrated hearing this. If Stoick was not wanting this then he should have man up and told the other Chief no instead of making his sixteen-year-old son make this decision.

It was early the next morning when they called Illfuss out. The other Chief looked like he hadn't slept. There were bags under his eyes and though his bear did well to hide it, it looked like his cheeks were slightly sunk in. none of it went unnoticed by Hiccup. Though standing in front of him once more he was still intimidating.

"Well," Illfuss started staring at Hiccup. "I can only assume you have decided if you're waking me up this early."

"I have sir," Hiccup tried to sound more authoritative.

Illfuss sighed. He knew what was coming. The same answer always came this early. He closed his eyes but snapped them open when Hiccup told him. "I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?"

"I said I am willing to marry your daughter. You and my father can discuss the more legal parts of the treaty but my answer is still the same."

"Are you serious?" he asked then turned to Stoick, "Is he serious?"

Stoick only gestured a yes with a small nod.

All the men were quiet. It got to the point that Hiccup went to the side of his dragon and to pull something out of one of the saddlebags. He came back with something wrapped in a cloth but once he revealed it. Illfuss's attention was piqued. "It's not all of it but this dagger is part of the dowry that I will be giving you in exchange for your daughter's hand." He handed the small weapon to Chief and added, "It's one of the best I ever made."

The chief inspected it impressed with the lightness yet sturdiness of the blade. "You made this?"

Another nod from Hiccup.

There was another pause before Illfuss spoke again, "Well then give me until the afternoon to get my daughter ready to meet you. It will give us some time to start on a new treaty too Stoick."

"Indeed it will."

"Wait, you mean to tell me she's been here? The whole time?" Hiccup asked astonished.

It made Illfuss chuckle, "Of course boy. I wasn't going to go around asking men to marry her without her here. Sometimes they wanted to know what their bride would look and be like before agreeing. It surprised me that you never did."

Hiccup was a little slacked jaw when hearing this and how he never considered what she would like until now.

It was the highlighted discussion at the academy when Hiccup broke the news to his friends that he would be marrying a complete stranger. They also loved the detail of his not knowing what she looked like. Describing her looking like a female size Fishlegs with wired like hair and warts. Even compared her to the bride of Grendel. Well, mainly Snotlout and Tuffnut were teasing, the rest were more concern with Hiccup actually getting married.

"Hiccup, are you-"

"Don't," he cut Fishlegs off.

"But this is a big responsibility," the larger teen said.

Astrid agreed. "It's also a huge change in your lifestyle."

"I know this you guys. I'm not a moron." He went over to Toothless to scratch under his chin trying to find some comfort. It all stopped when Ruffnut piped up.

"I bet you won't be riding Toothless as much as you like. Bet you won't even be leading the academy."

"W-what?" he clambered, "What makes you say that?"

Ruffnut shrugged, "Well, the village didn't seem all dragon friendly as ours. She might even hate dragons. May even tell you that Toothless has to go. You may have to give up all dragons."

"Oh! Can I have T-day is that happens?" Tuffnut asked making Toothless and Belch growl at him.

"And can I run the Academy if you can't?" Snotlout chimed in.

"No," Hiccup said sternly towards the male twin and answer Snotlout, "and if anything Astrid would be in charge, but that won't happen."

"Really?"

He hesitated in his now, but he did nod towards them all.

Astrid sighed in annoyance. "Face it Hiccup, you didn't think all this through and now you maybe sacrificing things you never thought of and for what?"

"I…" he paused looking at all them as they waited for his answer. But Astrid was right. He really didn't know and now it was too late to change anything. If he did then there was no telling what Illfuss would do as a retaliation. Then he caught the shadow of the sundial and realized the time. "I have to go." He hopped on Toothless and headed towards the docks to go meet his future, hopefully decent, wife.

Standing next to his father with his best friend slightly behind him did not calm Hiccup's nerves one bit on those docks. Everything his friends just told him was racing through his head. What is she didn't like dragons? What is she made him get rid of Toothless? He wouldn't let that happen, but she could defiantly make him stay outside the house. And what if she did look like the bride of Grendel? He didn't know if he could stand a conversation with someone like that. His breakfast would always be on the verge of coming back up. He swallowed the large lump in his throat when Illfuss and his men came into view.

"Stoick," the other Chief said.

"Illfuss."

"Hiccup."

The boy could only nod on acknowledgment feeling a little queasy.

"I would like you to meet my daughter, Eira the jewel of the Southern Sea Walkers," Illfuss announced. "Your future bride."

Hiccup and Stoick stood there a little confused and it showed in their faces. For all who were standing there was one of Illfuss' guards.

The visiting Chief was confused too until he glanced behind him and saw the problem. "Oi! Would you move you, big bloke!" He shoved the man lightly but enough to throw the man off-balance to fall to the docks and into some barrels that then fell into the water.

And that's when Hiccup first saw her.

A girl clearly around his age looking at the man with a twist of concern on her face. She moved a step to help him but he was already up by the time she took another. Her dark blue eyes scanned the men around her and quickly went back to a standing position next to her father. Her head lowered enough so her dark brown bangs covered her down casted eyes. Her hands folded in front of her.

"Eira," Illfuss spoke, "this spoke is Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Isle of Berk."

She bowed and was about to greet him when her father cut her off.

"And this is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the hope and heir of the Berkian tribe. He is going to be your husband."

She bowed again, something Hiccup wasn't used too. When she stood up to look and speak to him his own voice caught in his throat. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hiccup."

Eira was defiantly not the bride of Grendel. She had a slim figure and wore a dark blue dress with black fur that outline the scoop of her collar, sleeves, and hem of the bottom of it. All with a simple thin belt around her waist. It all brought out the right features that she had, at least it did for the young lad who was still staring at her gaping like a fish.

It was only when Stoick cleared his throat and gave his son a nudge did Hiccup snap out of it.

"What," he asked confused then regained his surrounding and felt embarrassed as he finally greeted the girl in front of him.

She really hoped she was hiding the smile that was threatening to come forward as she tried not to laugh at the boy in front of her. His awkwardness was making him endearing though he wasn't the first male that had acted that way. He was, however, the first one who didn't seem to try to hide it and he seemed to feel uneasy in front of her. Just like she felt in front of him.

What no one was expecting was a fairly large Night fury to come pushing past his rider and right up to maiden. He heard the small gasp as he approached and his green cat eyes narrowed looking at her. He heard his rider try to call him back and he saw the Larger Vikings reach for their weapons, yet he kept staring and creeping closer to the girl.

Eira's eyes widen as the dragon crept closer and from the reactions of everyone she didn't know if she was truly safe. She closed her eyes tightly when she felt his warm breath upon her skin. She prayed she wouldn't do anything to anger him.

"Boy, call your beast off her!" Illfuss threaten.

"Toothless," Hiccup said and was about to call again when they heard a chuckle and then another.

The girl was laughing as Toothless kept nudging and sniffing her sides until she gently touched his head and moved herself away. "Please, that's enough."

Hiccup was a little amazed by her interaction with his dragon as he tried to pull the reptile away. He managed to do so but in the process, the two teens brushed their hands together causing them to blush.

Quietly Eira thanked him.

Hiccup only nodded and they silently stared at one another neither not knowing what to say. Luckily, Illfuss broke the silence and their stares.

"Are you okay?" he asked checking her for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine, daddy."

"I'm sorry," Hiccup began, "I don't know what came over him."

The older chief did not like that answer, "I thought you said you trained that beast."

Stoick stepped up for his son, "And he has Illfuss. She must be wearing something he likes."

The father didn't want that as an answer and was about to yell at all of them but to his shock his daughter spoke up and agreed with it.

"We have been sailing a while now. I wouldn't be surprised if any of us smelled like fish or something." She paused and turned to the dragon rider, "He does like fish right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, he does a lot. But you don't even smell that bad."

"Um…" she said.

Stoick groaned and Hiccup realized his mistake. "What I meant was that you don't smell like fish. At least to me, you don't. To Toothless may be," he gestured to his dragon. "You smell good," he trailed off.

Both fathers groaned as Eira tried to smile at the compliment not sure what to say to the boy.

"Hiccup," his father started, "Why don't you show Eira around the village. Get her used to it, while Illfuss and I settle the final arrangements."

"Not a bad idea Stoick," the visiting Chief said. He then turned to his daughter, "You'll be alright?"

She looked towards the other teen and watch as he remained focused on his dragon. His fingers fiddling with the straps and buckles of the saddle the beast wore. His cheeks were still a bit red from earlier. It all made Eira nod at her father. She then asked Hiccup the question herself, "You don't mind?"

He was taken back and he shook his head, "No, not at all. We can start at the plaza if you want."

"Whatever you think is best."

Hiccup agreed and then began to lead the way. Toothless only a few paces behind the two.

When the two were far enough away both fathers began their conversation on the meeting.

Illfuss the first to speak, "He almost ruined all of this Stoick."

"It wasn't that bad."

"Really? Do I need to remind you that he told my little girl and I quote that she doesn't smell that bad?"

Stoick hesitated but still remained firm, "It didn't go bad Illfuss. They at least don't seem to hate each other."

Illfuss sighed and looked slightly sorrowful. That's when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It will be fine my friend. My son is a good man and Berk will take care of her. We'll make this place feel like home to her."

"I know," he said, "but she's still my little girl."

Stoick understood all too well, but he still tried to calm and ease the other Chief's fears. After a few moments, they both decided to go back to Stoick's hut to sign the final arrangement and allowing the two teens to be together.

In another part of the village, a group of teens was watching the plaza from one of their hang out points. As they were watching a small pair walked in the middle of the view and that's when the topic became interesting.

"Who is that with Hiccup?" Tuffnut asked.

"Not the bride of Grendel that's for sure," Ruffnut answered making everyone more curious.

"Are you kidding me?!" Snotlout shouted. "That's who he's marrying! Come on!" He cursed his arms and huffed as he leaned against his dragon.

"Well, at least she's pretty. That's a good thing right?" commented Fishlegs.

"Looks aren't everything," Astrid said. "Look at him down there you can't tell me he's not himself. That all of this is wrong. You can feel it from here."

"That or it's the jealousy," Tuffnut whispered to his sister causing her to snicker.

Astrid heard it and glared, "I'm not jealous. If anything I'm mad because none of us should be asked to a forced marriage."

"Well," Fishlegs trailed, "Technically, you are right. _We _don't have to be forced into a marriage, but since Hiccup is the child of a Chief. He can be. All heirs of their tribes can be placed into an arranged marriage at any point in their lives as long as they are not married prior and both families agreed upon it."

Everyone looked at the large teen in disbelief and raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that?" Snotlout asked.

He twiddled his thumbs, "I read up on it as soon as Hiccup told us. I thought maybe I could find a way to help him."

"And did you?"

Fishlegs shook his head, "Sadly, no. Giving Hiccup a choice was the only way and since he accepted there's nothing anyone of us can do."

Astrid huffed until the twins spoke up again.

"Doesn't look like he's too upset about it the way he's smiling down there."

"What?" the blonde asked standing next to them to see for herself. Everyone else did as well and they all saw the trio down at the plaza not too worried about their situation.

Hiccup was pointing out all the different stalls around the area. He figured if Eira was going to be living here she would benefit knowing where she could find food and supplies. "And over where you can purchase loaves of bread if you don't feel like making it yourself. And that stall holds the meat. It's where you can-"

"Let me guess," she cut him off, "get meat."

"What? No. It's where you fix your boots," Hiccup said seriously.

"What?!" she had a very confused look on her face.

That's when he cracked and laughed, "I'm kidding. Yes, that's where you can get any type of butchered meat caught that day."

"Oh," she smiled and then began to laugh at his joke.

For a very odd reason, Hiccup's chest felt like it was in a knot and his stomach was a little queasy. He only shook the feeling away when he realized he was staring at her. He hoped she didn't notice.

But Eira did. She caught her laughter and stuttered it to a stop. His staring caused a faint blush to appear and she felt as if her hands were the most interesting thing on the planet as she fidgeted and looked at them. At that moment she wondered how she was able to catch his gaze so intently on her. She wondered if she had done or said something wrong. She hoped not because according to her father if she messed this one up, the other choices were not as promising. She now felt sick to her stomach when thinking about it.

Hiccup was looking anywhere but at her. For a moment, he was too embarrassed that he been starring at her that his own cheeks seemed to be on fire. Though noticing the thick silent air between them made him feel anxious and he took a quick glance at her. What he saw he wasn't sure how to take. Her face seemed a little pale and she kept mumbling words he couldn't make out. She kept her head down and her eyes were shut. It almost looked like she was praying.

He reached out a hand to touch her, but then second-guessed himself and pulled it back. Instead, he said her name and when she looked at him he saw the trail of barely shed tears along her cheeks. He then realized exactly what she was feeling but he still asked her, "Eira, are you okay?"

She put on a smile and tried not to sound unsure, "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

He could answer that question twelve thousand different ways, but he didn't. He decided to drop it and go back on his mission of showing her around, for which she was grateful for.

They ended up at the forge and that's where Eira saw Hiccup light up the most when speaking to her during the tour. Though she was confused about a few things. "So, you're an apprentice here then? I thought you were the leader of training dragons?"

"I am," he said. "But before that, I use to work with Gobber in the Smithery. Still do from time to time. It's where the villagers can get saddles for their dragons and dragons can get their teeth fixed." He paused, "Actually thinking about it. If it weren't for my dad making me work with Gobber when I was a kid I probably wouldn't have met Toothless, let alone be able to help him fly again."

"Speaking of… How did you," she gestured to the large Night Fury, who was snooping around the forge looking for something.

Hiccup beamed and shrugged, "Eh, that's a long boring story that I can tell you another time."

She hummed in acknowledgment but clearly, she was still thinking. "So, when my father told me you were training to run the village that was a lie?"

"Um, no. I help my father out around the village a lot. Sometimes he guides me on certain things when we both can meet up."

"So, which one?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

She paused thinking of her words carefully, "Which title are you wanting to choose? Are you going to be the next Blacksmith or the Chief? Or are you being the leader of training dragons for your village?"

That caught Hiccup by surprise. He never really thought about it. He just assumed that he would do what his father wanted. Then again if that was the case then why was he allowing himself so many difficult chores around the village if all he was going to be was Chief of Berk one day? He blinked a few times, and, in a hush, tone spoke, "I'm not sure. I just assumed…" he looked at her a little scared. "You won't mention anything to them, will you? I don't want it to affect-"he really trailed off before speaking, "our arrangement." The blush returned tenfold for both. Hiccup caught sight of the shaking of her head and her say.

"I'm going to be yours and that's where my loyalty will lie."

He relaxed, then it clicked on how she said her answer. He did not like it, "You know Eira-"

A person calling his name distracted him and when he looked he saw his group of friends on the backs of their dragons in front of him. It caused him to forget what he wanted to say to his future wife.

He smiled at them, "Hey gang. I would like you to meet someone." He gestured to the girl beside him. Though from the looks of everyone they all didn't seem to know how to feel when Hiccup introduced Eira.

Eira however, curtsy towards all of them and said some pleasantries. None of which were used to any of that sort of treatment. When she realized that she felt a little awkward.

"Um… nice to meet you too," Fishlegs said trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Snotlout intervened, "Eira, was it?"

She nodded.

"Okay, so tell me this. Why are you marrying mister twig here when you could be marrying a real Viking?" he flexed his biceps trying to impress her.

It only made her and everyone else feel disgusted. Unknowing to all of them it seemed that the newcomer had a quick tongue. "And where pray tell would this _real _Viking be then? For clearly there isn't one in front of me."

It caused all of them to chuckle and even get Astrid to smile.

Snotlout was just annoyed, "Shut up all of you! Especially you!" he pointed at the girl.

What no one expected was a deep voice to come out of nowhere, "And who are you telling to shut up, boy?"

All the teens seemed to be like frighten deer as the stared at Illfuss and Stoick.

"N-no one sir," the monstrous Nightmare rider stuttered out.

"Good," was all the other Chief said then the grown-ups turned to their offspring.

"Hiccup," Stoick started. "We made the final decisions between you two."

"You did?" he gulped and felt incredibly nervous. He took a glance at Eira and she looked just like he did. It seemed like all the teen looked like how Hiccup felt.

Hiccup's father nodded, "Yes, you two will be married in four days."

"So soon?" Eira whispered reading Hiccup's exact thoughts. Both teens looked another both nauseated by the suddenness of everything.

It didn't go unnoticed by any of them, especially the two fathers but they decided it was best to ignore it. The others didn't dare speak either. The two Chiefs then started to ask the betrothed couple where they would like to build their hut since Hiccup could no longer live with Stoick. He was going to be a married man after all and Eira would need a place to stay. It only made the young teens realize that what they chose to go through was happening. Both now becoming more fearful of it.

Hiccup had a good excuse to avoid the question, "I just begun to show Eira around. I'm not sure if she would know of a good spot to even start building."

"Well, you lived on this island long enough. Wouldn't you know where you would like to live?" Illfuss said shorty.

"I would like to live where I do now," Hiccup thought angrily.

Stoick saw the frustration in his son's eyes and knew they were pushing the kids a little too hard. "Illfuss I think we should-"

"Four days Stoick."

The Berkian sighed but came up with a solution, "We'll give you a couple more to finish the tour and look for a spot that way. Meet us at the house when you're done." He gave a short nod towards them and turned to the other man to lead him back to his house. "Come on Illfuss. Let's give the kids some space."

Once the grown-ups were gone the five tens turned to the couple wondering what they were going to do and a few other things.

"You're marrying into that?" Tuffnut asked Hiccup but it only made Eira feel upset.

She bowed her head trying not to look at any of them. She knew how rough her father could be, but she also knew where it was coming from. She couldn't tell them though. She didn't even know them. When she thought about it she realized she didn't even know her future husband and that itself was difficult. More so when knowing she only had four days to figure him out.

Hiccup defended her, however, "I'm not marrying him, Tuff. I'm marrying her." He took a glance at Eira, his last words a little shaky when seeing how she was reacting to all this.

"Yes," Astrid said, "but it's not just her you are marrying. You're joining two families together. Two tribes together."

He looked at the girl he stood beside and saw at how upset she was getting. It upset Hiccup too. "We know Astrid. You don't need to keep reminding us," he snapped. It took all of them surprised. "I- _we _don't need this. Come on Eira we- we need to find a place apparently." He turned on his heels about to walk away when it was Fishlegs who stopped them.

"You could always fly on Toothless," he mustered up to say. "It would be a better advantage point to find a spot."

He sighed and nodded, "Thanks Fishlegs." Looking at Eira however, the idea didn't seem so keen to her. She was looking at Toothless like if she stepped on him it would kill her. Though that never surprised him, everyone looked like that when mentioning a flight on a Night Fury. "Would you be able to do that Eira?"

"I've never ridden on anything except for a horse before."

"Figures," Astrid snide.

Hiccup glanced at Astrid but tried to encourage Eira to consider the notion. "It's the same concept just with more flight involved." He tried to lighten the mood.

She smiled but it fell fast when the twins commented on how fast the dragon was when in said flight.

"We'll just stick with the walking," he said patting the neck of the dragon trying to calm him down from the mention of a flight. The two boys started to walk away leaving the gang behind and Eira trying to catch up.

"She's never going to fit in here," was Astrid's last words before taking off on Stormfly and the rest followed.

Eira did her very best to catch up to them but it was only when she spoke did they stop. She huffed when reaching them. "Where are we going?"

The male teen sighed, "I was going home. My father's home now I guess."

"Oh, I thought we were supposed to," she stopped seeing how upset he looked. "Never mind."

"I'll show you around some other time," he said. "As of now I just want to end this day. If you don't mind."

She understood and didn't mind at all, but she also didn't want to disobey her father or another Chief's orders. Though it had seemed he already had an answer for that when addressing the two men. It wasn't long after pointing it on a map to his dad that he ascended the stairs to his room. His best friend in tow. Eira watched him and while walking back to her ship she couldn't help but feel horrible about all this.

In her corridor of the ship, she sat on her bed slowly untangling her hair from the braid. All that kept running through her head was how everything was a disaster. What made it sting even worse was that she thought that there might have been something between her and the Berkian boy but that ended very quickly and abruptly.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize she had company.

"What's wrong my little dove?"

She brushed away a tear that threatened to fall and gave her father her best fake smile. "Nothing Daddy. I'm alright."

Illfuss sat by her on the bed well aware that she was lying. "Now none of that," he tucked her hair behind her ear. "Tell me what's going on in that mind of yours?"

She sighed yet didn't want to look at him. She took another deep breath and told him what was on her mind. "I thought I would be marrying someone I loved. Now I'm marrying someone in four days and know nothing about him. How am I supposed to fall in love and know him in that amount of time? How am I going to make him even know me or fall for me?" With all her might she tried not to cry. "And this place… It's so… different. How am I going to get used to all this?"

His face turned into a frown, "What do you mean fall in love?" She would have answered but he continued, "Eira, this marriage isn't about love. It's about stability for you. For our tribe. You knew this when we set out to find you a suitable suitor. You understood this when you agreed to it. If you wanted love, then we should have stayed home. Plenty of boys seemed to love you."

Eira could only nod. She didn't have the heart to argue with her father about how the boys viewed her in her tribe. Neither the less none of this didn't settle well with her.

That was very clear to the father. He sighed, "You know your mother and I had an arranged marriage."

"I know, but you two were at least in love."

He chortled at the statement. "Love? Yeah, I was in love with her ever since a boy could realize he could be. It's the reason why I fought so hard to become Chief, so I could be with her. But your mother. Oh, _your _mother hated me. Most likely loathed me when it was announced that we would be married."

"But I always remembered you two always being so happy and in love. You always said it so freely to one another."

"We did eventually, but it took years for her to come to terms with it," he explained.

"When did she?" the daughter asked.

He smiled as he remembered the day, "When you were two, maybe three I suppose. At least that is when she finally said those words to me. You were very sick with one of the worse possible fevers that our tribe had ever seen. You slept for weeks and if you were awake you were in so much pain. You barely kept anything down and the blocks of ice weren't working like the healers told us it would. I just couldn't leave you. Not when you were like that and your mother was beside herself on what to do. I… I neglected my duties as a Chief to take care of you. A lot of people were upset with me for it, especially when others were suffering too." He paused trying to collect himself. "It was the first time I was actually torn by what to do. But then by the graces of the Gods, your fever finally broke one night. When I told your mother that you'll be okay I swear I dreamt what she told me, but I wasn't. You were going to be fine and your mother just whispered to me that she loved me. It was because we loved you so much that it made both of us realize how much we really did love each other."

Eira smiled and enjoyed the story of her parents yet she was still upset. "Do you think I'll be lucky like you and mom?"

Illfuss pulled his daughter into a hug and then softly told her, "You just need to be yourself and I promise you this place will feel like home and you will be just as happy." He kissed the top of her head and then said, "And when that happens maybe you could become this island's jewel too."

Eira stayed quiet after hearing her father's words. She knew he meant them to be encouraging and uplifting but all she felt was a feeling of hopelessness and uneasiness. It was not the answer she was looking for, but she knew he did not have a better one. So, when he kissed her head one more time and asked if shew as okay she gave him the answer that he needed to hear.

It was three days later the whole village was running around and getting ready for all the ceremonies that were about to take place for the young teens. It was going faster thanks to the help of the dragons, but some traditions still required it to be done the Viking way. Like Hiccup preparing his family ceremonial sword so it could be presented to his wife as a sign he could protect her and any children that would come their way.

He sighed the damn thing was heavy even without the box it was stored in. but he knew he had to polish and sharpen the blade, so it would be ready. The only thing he was happy for was that the thing wasn't as gaudy as some family's heirlooms, like a solid gold ax. The handle was pure gold and from it, a decorative design was carved into the blade all the way to the tip. The blade itself was made from the strongest and purest metal they could have. He was on his way to do his duty when he bumped into someone. When looking at who it was he was surprised to see it was the other Chief. "Sir?"

Illfuss barely acknowledge the lad before he went to go back to what he was doing.

However, Hiccup noticed that his behavior was a clear sign that he was searching for something, so he asked again. "Is everything alright Chief? Anything I can help with?"

The man considered not telling the boy but looked at him and realized he had no other choice. "I cannot locate my daughter," he whispered.

"You mean Eira's gone!" he was shocked but was quickly hushed.

"Keep your voice down," he gritted. "If others found out they could see this as a betrayal and it would not be good for either tribe."

Hiccup nodded and then asked, "Would Eira do something like this on purpose?"

"No," Illfuss spoke, "she wouldn't hurt me like this."

The teen stood in thought for a bit and then offered a solution. "I can take Toothless to search for her. It would be faster, and dragons are decent trackers."

The Chief considered it before agreeing. His love of her outweighing the consequences of him and others knowing the situation. "Just find her please."

Hiccup nodded and quickly went to drop off the sword before in search of the missing girl.

Toothless was not the best tracking dragon on Berk, that title was held by his father's dragon Skullcrusher, but he was able to find a trail of her scent after a while. What shocked both was where the scent was leading them. They were at the cove and at first Hiccup thought Toothless just wanted to go to the oasis for personal reasons. That assumption was quickly dropped when the dragon began to sniff the ground and move towards a cave that was hidden within the cove's walls. He began to think this wasn't where the girl was until the Night Fury stuck his head through the vines hanging over the entrance and a small female gasp was heard within. He pushed his dragon aside and called out, "Eira?"

When not receiving an answer he tried one more time, "Eira, are you in there? If you are please say something."

It took a few moments, but he finally heard her.

"Yes," she said softly, "I'm here."

"A-are you okay?" he asked. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Again she was hesitant to answer him, "I'm fine."

"Do you want to come out? Your father is looking for you."

"No."

"Oh," Hiccup's voice trailed off and then looked at his dragon for any type of help. Unfortunately, the dragon did not have a solution. "Some help you are," he dragged to Toothless, but he was loud enough to make Eira believe he was talking to her.

"What?"

The young boy panicked and compensated with, "Do you mind if I join you?"

The long pause made him anxious, but she finally told him he could come in if he wished. It was just his luck that the small cave wasn't allowing any light into the place and it caused Hiccup to trip on a root. He was quick to catch himself, but it didn't mean that he didn't get hurt. He slammed himself against the stone wall and hissed a curse out as he tended to his hands. Toothless even tried to help but with the dragon's size and the two teens inside it was almost impossible. To help though he did light a small stone that caused the damp cavern to have a soft glow. It made it very easy to see for the two humans. What surprised both was how close the two were next to one another. Hiccup seeing the worry on her face because of his fall.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm good," he gritted trying to shake away the stinging he felt in his palms.

Eira was still concerned though, "But it looks like you have a scrape or two on your hands."

"It's nothing," he explained. "It will heal soon enough." He shook them again before pressing them firmly together hoping the sting would wear off soon.

She sighed and moved a pouch into view. "At least allow me to rinse them out before you go all "_Viking strong" _on me." She held out one of her hands to him waiting.

Dumbfounded by her boldness he could only oblige her demand. It was only when the painful sting of the cool water hitting his skin did he regain his sense back. When done, he told her his thanks.

She hummed and capped the canteen before setting it down. She sat back down and Hiccup joined her only sitting a foot or so away. The silent awkwardness was back between them.

Hiccup tried to break it a couple of times but everything that he was wanting to say never seemed to come outright. In the end, he brought it back to why he was out here in the first place. "So, your dad is looking for you."

"I know," her voice a little sad, "are you going to drag me back?"

The rider thought about it and remember how he was always the one who was humiliated by being brought back into town, especially when all he wanted was some peace. He shook his head. "Only when you're ready. It's hard to navigate around here sometimes."

The relief sigh that Eira let out allowed Hiccup to know he made the right call, but it did make him curious.

"Why are you out here, if you don't mind me asking?"

She pulled her knees to her chest and whispery said, "A lot on my mind."

"Anything you want to talk about?" he watched her shrink back into herself, pulling her knees closer to her. He sighed and pressed on, "You know we're going to be together for a while after tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt if we tried to talk to each other."

"I know," she didn't dare look at him as she mumbled that and brought the silence back.

Hiccup was becoming a little annoyed because he was in the same predicament as she was and he seemed to be handling it better than her. This was all her and her father's idea to have this marriage and yet she was now pouting and trying to hide from it. He groaned as he thought, "maybe it's because I'm not the husband she was hoping for. Well, if that's the case then-"his words were cut off when she spoke.

"The weddings tomorrow."

"Um, yeah," he nodded.

"I mean its _tomorrow."_ She stressed.

He agreed again and didn't know where she was going with this but he looked at her and he could see she was distraught. He carefully reached out and when she didn't pull away he gently touched her shoulder.

Feeling his hand on her made her spill what she was holding back. "I'm going to mess all this up. I'm going to ruin your wedding."

This was defiantly not a response he was expecting nor something he was used too. He was the one who was to blame when something went wrong. "What do you mean by that?"

She became nervous and tried to collect herself to explain what she meant. "There's so many traditions and rituals that we have to do tomorrow. How am I supposed to remember them all so I can do them perfectly?"

He gave her a soft understanding smile, "but it doesn't have to be. Trust me nothing around here ever goes perfect."

"I have to be," she told him defeated, "If I'm not then…"

"Then what?"

She shook her head trying to brush him off, but he wouldn't let up.

"Then what Eira?"

"Then you could reject me. The Gods could reject the union. I would not only dishonor my tribe but my father as well. It would be a disaster and… and…" She felt like crying. She felt like a failure and nothing has even happened yet. This type of pressure was something she wasn't used too on a day to day basis and it was all very evident at the moment.

Hiccups lip curled into a small smile until he then began to chuckle softly. When Eira gave him a quick glare wiping away her tears, he knew it was his turn to explain. "Trust me Eira I don't think you need to worry about any type of rejection from me." He paused and took notice of the blush on her cheeks. That's when it dawned on him what he told her, and his cheeks copied hers as he tried to double back with an explanation. "Not like that. Not to say you're not pretty or whatever. It's just that…I mean…" he huffed and rested his head on the stone wall. "As you can see I can cause a few of my own screw-ups, so I don't think yours will be as bad if even noticeable."

She hummed in acknowledgment still blushing from his compliment. She was still nervous, "It's still a lot though."

"It is," he said. "But hey anything horrible goes down you can blame me."

Eira appreciated the gestured but asked, "Even my first kiss?"

That threw the young Haddock for a loop. "You mean you never…"

The young girl nodded her head, "You would be my first and in front of a tribe full of strangers."

He gulped and stared at her wide eye. "So that's why she was really freaking out," he thought. He couldn't blame her either. Anyone's first kiss was supposed to be something special right? At least Hiccup's first kiss was something he wouldn't forget with Astrid, even though she punched him first. It was a bit of a dilemma he was in. Thus, when he blurted out his next words he was only thinking about making the girl next to him more comfortable. "We could practice the kiss."

"What?" she said in a bit of shock.

"Uh…" he was a dear in the headlights looking at her trying his best to see if she was angry with the idea. He gulped before restating it again, "We could do the kiss now that way you wouldn't have to do it in front of everyone for the first time."

Now she was staring at him wide eye pondering what he was offering. "Can we even-"

"We are betrothed to one another. It wouldn't be frowned at if we were caught. Not that we would be." He gestured towards the large black dragon who was comfortably laying in front of the opening. He went to read her reaction to his plan and once more asked, "So what do you think?"

She took some time to think about it but taking a deep encouraging breath she asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"Oh, um…" Hiccup never thought about what to do when kissing someone. He fantasied about it a bunch, but he never thought about the mechanisms or steps that go in to do such things. "I think it would be best to face each other."

She could understand that and so they both turned until their knees were barely touching. Already her heart was pounding and if she wasn't so focused on trying to calm down she could have heard Hiccup's own heart beating just as hard. She took a glance at the boy in front of her to ask, "Now what?"

Hiccup gulped already feeling his face turning a bright shade of red. "I guess we just close our eyes and lean forward until… well, you know." He heard her stutter out an okay and watched as she closed her eyes, which seem to mesmerize the lad. With the still dimming rock lighting, the cave and the way it reflected on her blushing cheeks and other soft facial features Hiccup couldn't help but think on how pretty the newcomer really was. That all changed when he saw her leaning forward and he quickly compensated for not being ready. He overdid it and when rushing to close his eyes and leaning towards her instead of their lips meeting it was their foreheads. It caused them to pull away and with the close proximity and quick reflexes Eira was able to hit Hiccup square in his nose as she tried to soothe her own head.

She looked at him very apologetic and alarmed that she hit him that hard. She even tried to apologize but he just waved her off.

"It's fine," he said through a clenched nose. He pulled his hand away to make sure he wasn't bleeding. With no sign of injury, he gave her a crooked smile. "See everything's good. Just remind me to watch out for your backhand."

She laughed, "As long as you don't head butt me again."

He copied her laugher and agreed. When the merriment died down some he asked her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a little embarrassed."

"At least it didn't happen in front of a tribe full of strangers," he joked.

"Right!?"

They both shared another laugh and when things quiet down she asked, "Should we try again?"

"Do you want to?"

She took a deep breath, "Just try not to get into another head bumping match."

He nodded and said, "I think you just need to keep your eyes closed and stay still. I can do the rest." He was becoming more nervous as he spoke. Thankfully she seemed to agree with him and Eira had her eyes closed and waited. Hiccup took a calming breath trying not to be distracted by the girl in front of him. He could tell by her face she was becoming impatient and new he had to gain his courage faster. One more gulp and a word or two of encouragement for himself he began to move forward with the kiss. He leaned forward and gently cupped her cheek to help guide him and keep her still. When he was close enough he closed his eyes and then closed the gap between them. Her lips were soft and warm and there was no wonder why he fell into the kiss so quickly. If he didn't need to breathe he would have liked to stay there longer.

Eira, on the other hand, held her breath the entire time until she felt Hiccup's lips upon hers. That is when all the air she was holding onto escaped her. His lips were a little chapped, but they were just as she had imagined they would be for her first kiss. Though, she never felt like melting into a puddle or see sparks as the kiss continued. It was however never unpleasant. She was breathing a little heavier when they pulled apart, but it was clear that they both now were a pinch more taken by the person they sat in front of. That was evident by the blush slowly spreading on their faces.

"So do you feel somewhat better about tomorrow after that?" Hiccup asked trying to regulate his breathing back to normal.

"Y-yeah," she said. "I think that would be good."

"G-good." He said shakenly. He coughed and said it more confidently. Then he took notice of his dragon and realized that he was becoming antsy. "I think maybe we should go. Toothless only gets this way when a storm is coming."

"A storm? Is it going to be a bad one?"

He shrugged. "Most likely not. Berk always has small rainstorms this time of year. Nothing too back but still better to be back in the village than caught in it."

She smiled, "I guess you're right. No fun if either of us get sick because of a little rain."

"Especially not for tomorrow," he continued and he went to climb on the back of Toothless yet stopped and turned to Eira. "Do you want to try to ride him with me?"

She was debating the offer, "Is it safe?"

He smirked, "The only time I ever feel safe is on the back of Toothless." He offered his hand to her, hoping she would grab it. When she did his smile beamed. He helped her on the saddle making sure her dress wasn't getting caught on anything and then getting on himself settling behind her. "Just hold on and it should be an easy flight."

She nodded, "I'm trusting you." She then told Toothless the same thing making both boys chuckle.

The rider's arms were around her waist holding onto the same handles she was. He leaned in close to her ear getting comfortable in his new sitting arrangement and whispered, "You have nothing to worry about I got you."

He couldn't see it, but the blush was bright red on her cheeks. She didn't have time to dwell on the words for Toothless was quick to leap in the air to fly back to the town and poor Eira had her eyes tightly closed trying not to scream her head off. She just kept repeating Hiccup's words in her head and hope he meant them when he told her that he had her.

The day had finally arrived and needless to say that both teens were more than nervous.

Eira was in one of the huts in the village that was a home to one of the women that volunteered to help her get ready for her day. No one was allowed to go in the building, not even a dragon. It was one of those traditions that no one could see the bride until she was given away to her husband. The only ones who were able to see her were her family members who were assigned to help her get ready, but since Eira had no relatives except for her father on the Island a few volunteered to help her thus the reason why she was in one of their huts. One was twisting her hair in braids as another was making a crown of flowers, though she was not doing a very good job. The last lady was checking to make sure the dress that she wore had no flaws and was up to standards as a wedding dress. That wasn't a worry for Eira however. How could it be when the dress she was wearing was her mother's, something the young girl insisted to wear as part of the agreement of all this with her father. No, Eira was nervous about other things at the moment and the only one who seemed to notice was the woman who was gathering her hair into an integrated bun.

"Don't look so worried my dear. Today is supposed to be one of happiness."

Eira sighed not too sure on what to say.

"And tonight should be even better," the one adjusting her dress chuckled.

"Maybe for the groom it will be," the one making the crown chimed in.

The other Viking huffed, "Just because yours is bad doesn't mean hers will be. I heard the Haddock men happen to do very well in that department."

The young bride was confused, "I'm sorry. What are you two talking about?"

"They're talking about your wedding night my dear," the Viking finishing up her hair explained. "Tonight is the night you will be giving yourself to your new husband."

The bride turned white as her dress. She completely forgot that was a thing and here she was worried about a silly little kiss.

Luckily, the woman behind her seemed to catch on. "Ladies, why don't you try to find better flowers to fix that?" She pointed to the crown of what was supposed to be flowers but looked like it had gone through a tornado in a hurricane after a mudslide.

"Hey! I'm trying my best here okay!" the one working on it yelled then pouted.

"Just go find more flowers please."

The one building the crown huffed and rolled her eyes as the other lady lead her away all while trying to give some encouragement that her work wasn't all that bad.

The Viking that stayed behind shook her head. She then turned to the young girl in front of her and gave her a warm smile as she took a seat. She offered to hold her hands and could tell that the girl was extremely scared and nervous. Gently she said, "Take a deep breath and let it out slowly."

Eira did, but it was very shaky and so she did it until it seemed that she was somewhat calmer.

"Now," she brushed a strain of her hair back into place. "I'm sure you were given the talk about your cycle and what that means."

Eira nodded, a small tint forming on her cheeks as she tried not to remember that embarrassing day when her father sat her into the healer's hut making her believe she was bleeding to death. When in reality the Chief had no idea how to explain to his daughter that she could now become pregnant and what she now had to do every time her monthly cycle hit her.

"Good, we don't need to go that far then." The woman looked at Eira and then asked, "Do you know what happens on your wedding night?"

"I heard talk of what is to happen," she explained.

"And?"

Her cheeks were on fire now. She didn't understand why she had to go into detail on what she was supposed to do. She knew the basics of the act that is all that counted. She was sure that her husband would be doing most of it. At least that's what she heard other women in her tribe whisper to each other about their own wedding nights. Yet this woman seemed to want more of an answer from her. She sighed, "I'm sharing my first time with my husband. We're going to be sharing a bed." She couldn't even look at this woman it was too embarrassing to explain this in front of someone she barely even knew.

"Yes, all that is correct. But do you know what is going to be happening with your own body during it?"

"W-what?"

The woman held the bride's hands and gave a comforting smile. Her voice was serious though as she explained, "It will most likely hurt the first time for you, so it's best to be as relaxed as possible."

Her blue eyes widen in fear, "Hurt? How bad?"

"Every woman is different. Every man is different. And most importantly everyone's experience is different. I can tell you my first time was more of a discomfort rather than pain and other women have stated the opposite. Your body is just not used to having someone else in it, so it's best to be as relaxed as possible." She paused, "if you feel the need I would suggest drinking more wine than you are used too."

She could only nod and the woman's words only continued to add to her stress.

"And don't be surprised to see any blood."

"There's going to be blood?!"

The woman chuckled, "only a small amount. Maybe enough to where it looks like someone received a small cut. The worse it could be is the same amount as your cycle and that is if the man is rough with you."

"Would Hiccup be?" her voice now shaking a little.

She squeezed Eira's hands. "I've known Hiccup since he was a babe. There's not a rough bone in that boy's body. He'll be gentle with you. He might even listen during it if you say anything. Not sure how the council would feel about that, but who knows."

That bewildered the young teen, "Council? You mean there are going to be other's watching…"

"It's only to see if Hiccup can perform his duty as a husband. To see if he can do his part to bring an heir."

Eira once again gulped but nodded. Her nerves about the matter never calming down.

The woman sighed. This was all hard with some of the adult women, but to go through this as a girl at her age she didn't know how either of the teens was making it through any of this. She was going to speak again when a knock was heard at the door. She got up to see who it was and only smiled when seeing who the guest was. "Hello Chief Illfuss."

He could only stand there and nod at the door as his hands fidgeted holding a polished wooden box. He stared at the lady and asked, "How is she doing?"

"She's terrified, to be honest, but I think she'll be fine once she sees you," she said calmly and stepped aside to allow the father to come through, which he thanked.

Seeing his little girl all dressed up as a bride was something he always hoped he would be able to see. It just cracked his heart for it to be this soon. He put on a smile for her though as he made himself known to her.

"Daddy?"

"Hello, my little dove," he beamed and asked her to stand. When she did he had to force a couple of tears back. "You look as radiant as your mother did in that dress. She would be very proud of you."

Eira took a shaky breath as she tried not to cry in front of her father. Then she quietly told him, "I'm scared Daddy." She was pulled into one of his hugs and as he embraced her she let a few tears fall wetting his tunic. "Please… stop this…" she whispered hoping that somehow that this would change his mind.

He held her tight letting one of his own tears fall. His voice a hushed tone as he told her, "I'm sorry." That's when he felt her sob and he did his best to ease her back down by holding her tighter. After a while, he separated her from the embrace and wiped away the trail of tears from her cheeks all while hiding his own. "You'll be fine Eira. You're stronger than this." He tried his best to encourage her. That's when he tried to comfort her fears by mentioning her future husband and her new home. "Hiccup will be good to you. He's a good young man. And Berk will treat you well enough that you won't even miss our tribe." He heard her choke back a sob and he felt defeated. He pulled her back into a hug and gently tried to soothe her by rubbing her back and calling her name softly. He then asked her, "Little dove what can I do to see you smile once more?"

She wanted this wedding to end. To go back home and forget all the horrible months at sea meeting and greeting all those villages and their terrible future Chief's sons. To go home and not have a village glare at you for interrupting and forcing someone new into their lives. However, everything was signed and agreed to by the two Chiefs and the elders. There was no changing what was happening in just a few hours. Eira was going to be married and then left on an island full of dragons and strangers who didn't wish to know her. A sigh escaped the young girl and she shook her head and put on a brave smile for her father. She could only want one thing right now. "Would you walk with me when greeting him? I don't think I can do it alone," she asked her head still resting against the man's chest as she clung to him.

Illfuss looked down at his daughter almost afraid to deny her request. Luckily, the woman who was helping earlier answered for him.

"I'm sure that can be arranged. Stoick and the elders would understand." She gave the small family a tiny grin. "Besides tweaking traditions is something of a trend here on Berk now."

The father sighed in relief and looked down at his daughter to smile at her. It was looking at her and her brown hair that he remembered that he had brought her a gift. "I have something for you," he pulled away to present her with the box he carried. Opening it he revealed a beautiful crown of silver. Etched into the crown's plate was an intricate floral design with touches of rose gold embedded in the flower's petals and leaves.

Eira was in shock at how lovely the piece of jewelry as but began to love the piece, even more, when her father explained the importance of it.

"I know you insisted to wear her dress today." The daughter nodded and subconsciously smoothed down the skirt as he continued, "And she would agree with me at how beautiful you look. She would probably be shedding a few happy tears at how fast you seemed to grow on us." He stopped to take a breath. "Your mother would be better at this than I am. I wasn't good at all this. Raising you." His breath became shakier and he was beginning to feel a little weak. It wasn't until he heard his daughter call him that he refocused his thoughts. He smiled at her and touched her cheek and became more settled when she held his hand and leaned into his touch. He began his story again. "This was your mother's bridal crown. We were married in the dead of winter and flowers well… They don't survive in snow and I heard from her cousin that she was becoming obsessed with wearing a floral crown. Said she wouldn't marry if she didn't have one and so…" He gestured to the box. "I came up with one for her."

"Dad," Eira called.

"I really think she was determined not to marry me. But I was determined to marry her. I loved her Eira and I love you."

"I love you too Daddy."

Those were the words that he needed to hear from her. "So, what do you say? Would you want to wear this, keep your mother close on this day?" She could only nod and with that, as his answer, he asked the woman helping his daughter get the finishing touches ready.

When the woman saw the crown, herself she gasped at the beauty of it. "Not at all, sir. Come on Eira let's finish preparing you."

The young bride nodded and wiped a tear off her cheek as she sat back down for the final touches. The circlet of silver felt heavy on her brow but couldn't help to smile when she heard the compliment given to her.

"Dare I say, that this is much better than any flower arrangement we wanted to use."

The father smiled at his little girl as he watched the woman carefully place the crown within her twisted and braided hair.

"Well, that's just great," one of the other ladies who was making the original crown of flowers said. "What am I supposed to do with all these then?"

"Oh, don't get your underwear in a twist. We'll use them for her bouquet," the other suggested. "At least the good ones," she gave them all a wink which caused Eira to chuckle. At least some of the women here on Berk were warmer to her than what she was used to in her village and that was something Eira could look forward too.

Over in another hut Hiccup was getting prepared himself. Though his experience so far was completely different from Eira's. He had more of his male family members all surrounding him. They were continuously offering him mead and wine, which he kept declining only sipping on his mug of water. He also was forced to do ridiculous traditions that were there to prove that he was worthy of marriage. Though he could plainly see that as he fumbled through most of them all his relatives were giving him a pass. Especially the one where he had to go find the sword he painfully worked hard on to polish and sharpen in the woods. That task he kept grinding his teeth and cursing under his breath searching for the damn thing. Only for it to be near his own home. It was only when he was forced to get ready in his ceremonial clothes that the members had left for the plaza where the ceremony would be held. Hiccup shook his head but was surprised when one of the old maidens started to yank his shirt off.

"I got that. Thank you," he said hastily, trying to keep some modesty on himself. He heard her huff, but he didn't care as he took off his shirt and then reached for the wedding tunic that was laid out for him. He recoiled his hand back when the lady smacked it.

"Your pants first. You can't greet your bride in ripped mud-stained pants."

He looked down at his clothing and indeed she was right. All the fabric he wore at the moment was not fit for the event that was about to take place. He gathered up the wardrobe and carried it to a place where he could have some peace and not be watched by anyone. "I'll be over here though. Don't you peek."

The woman rolled her eyes, "Fine. Just hurry up. We don't have much time. You took forever completing our sacred traditions. It's a wonder why the Gods are even blessing you with a bride."

He shrunk a little at the comment. Luckily his father was able to come to his rescue.

"Now he just fine Ester. We still have more than enough time to get the lad dress and ready at the altar." He gave his son a grin, but it faltered when the old woman continued.

"Yes, but even you did it faster than him."

Stoick groaned when hearing it. "Yes, but even you are old enough to remember that Valka was waiting for me at the altar. Making me late for the wedding."

"Really Dad?" Hiccup asked almost astonished that his father had made a mistake like that.

The Chief shrugged, "I was young. I thought I knew everything and could do no wrong. Your mother, however, knew differently and tried to make me realize that." He took a deep sigh. "It took her being gone for me to figure that out. Along with a few swift kicks." They both chuckled at that until Stoick sighed once more and getting a good look at his son. He saw him struggling with putting his prosthetic back on over the nicer looking pants. Apparently, someone never accounted for the missing limb and it still had the length. "Do you need help with that?"

Hiccup shook his head. He grabbed a pair of shears and cut off the necessary length he needed then finally he was able to click everything back into place. The next thing to put on was the white tunic with the gold trimming along the bottom and collar of the shirt. After that was on he then began to work on the belt. The buckle was gold and had a carving of Berk's crest in the middle of it, but it seemed he had to loop it a couple of times, so it wouldn't fall off his hips. Then came the cufflinks he had to put on yet looking at them he could tell that they wouldn't be able to fit. "Um… Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we could find something other than these to wear?"

That confused the father, "What do you mean? Every Haddock has worn those- Oh, I see what you mean." Stoick looked at his son who was holding out the cuffs that would never fit on his forearms unless he held them out straight. "Let's see what we can do under short notice." They managed to find some nice strips of leather and since the edge of the sleeves had the same gold thread design as his collar the overall look wasn't so bad. It suited the teen better at least. The final touch to Hiccup's wedding attire was his wedding crown.

The older woman presented it to him and his face said it all.

"That's it?" he asked in disbelief.

She looked down at the wreath of greenery, "What's wrong with it?"

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck not sure how to go about his true thoughts about it. "Nothing. It's just with everything else so… flashy I would have thought that this would have been too. Not that having a pile of leaves on my head isn't grand or anything. Just you know…"

"It's tradition son," Stoick explained. "And it's what every male in our family has worn. It has blessed everyone so far with a strong happy household and marriage so far."

He nodded and carefully placed the halo of greens on his head. When collecting his nerves, he turned to the three in the room and asked, "So how do I look?"

Stoick beamed at his boy while Ester and Toothless tried their best to smile at the lad.

"You look like you're ready to meet your bride."

"Not quite," the older female said as she came up behind Hiccup to place a large brown cloak over his shoulders and securing it in place with some gold clips that had the strike class symbol etched into it. "There now you're ready."

Hiccup study the new addition to the outfit and then his green eyes drifted to the floor. He took a deep sigh and when he cast them up again he tried to be confident in his words. "Now's the best time for anything, right?"

The Chief nodded but recognized his son's uneasiness. "We can wait a little bit longer if you need."

"Do you think I could be alone for a minute?"

"Aye lad. We'll be outside if you need anything." His father patted his son's shoulder and before leaving he told him, "I'm… I'm proud of you Hiccup."

"Thanks, Dad." Those were the last words he said before the door closed and he was left alone. Almost alone. Toothless did stay behind and did his best to cheer up his rider.

He gave the reptile a small smile and gave him a scratch. "Thanks, Bud." He then went to lazily petting the Night Fury as he began to be in his own thoughts. A lot of things were weighing on his mind and now he was wondering if he really could go through with this marriage. Maybe his friends were right. He didn't think anything through and just jumped right in and for what? He didn't know his future bride. They only spent maybe a day or so together and again that was his fault. He wanted to spend as much time with Toothless as he could incase Eira wouldn't allow him in the home. Then again, he should have asked her what she wanted instead of assuming but it was too late. The home was built and there wasn't anything Hiccup could do to arrange it, so his friend had space.

"I'm such an idiot," he sighed causing the dragon to whine and nudge his head against Hiccup's side. "I-I should have thought things out Toothless. I should have talked to her more at the very least. I don't even know what she likes or even her favorite color. How am I supposed to get her gifts when the holidays come? What if I prank her on Loki day and she hates me or worse she pranks me?!" he groaned putting his head in his hands. He hated this. He didn't want to do any of this anymore. He just wanted to end all this and fly on the back of Toothless. Hiccup even thought to take that route, but he knew it was too late. However, when thinking about a flight on his dragon he remembered the one he had taken with Eira back into the village. He remembered how warm she felt as she leaned back into him as they held onto the saddle. How whatever she was using in her hair smelled sweet and calming to him. "Wonder if she would be using that in her hair today?" he thought then was pulled back into reality when his father knocked on the door to retrieve him.

"You ready son?"

"So much for high tailing it out of here," he thought. He stood up and nodded. With that Hiccup walked through the sea of villagers and to his spot on the alter, it was easy with Toothless behind him.

The young teen stood in front of Gothi, Berk's entire village, and the council. His father, Gobber, and Toothless were off to his side having a front-row view of his life-changing event. He looked out of the sea of people and noticed his friends were as close as they could be in the crowd. Whether it was to support him or not, he didn't know, but he was glad they were there. He fixed his white shirt and belt one more time before Gothi gestured for him to look towards the other side. When he did he sucked in a breath of air.

Eira was walking towards him, her father beside her and a bunch of flowers that made her look like she was carrying spring in her hands. Yet it was what she wore that caught everyone's and the young groom's attention. Her dress was pure as snow with what appeared to be a fair color of rose gold on her necklace, cufflinks, and belt. It even carried down to the trim of her dress. She wore a white fur cloak that was pinned to her garment where the broaches were made of the same rose gold. She was very breathtaking and Hiccup defiantly was taken.

He was so taken in fact that he forgot he was the person who was supposed to marry her. It wasn't until she stood in front of him and held her hands out did he snap out of it. He quickly but gently held her hands and as they did so both hoped the other didn't notice how nervous they were.

Neither heard the blessings or the union vows given by the Chief or performed by the elderly woman. Both taking glances at each other whenever the courage struck them. If they ever caught the glance of the other a small blush would appear on their cheeks and then quickly look back at their joined hands. The only time they looked at one another or pulled away was when they exchanged their rings. After that, the ceremonial union shawl was wrapped around their hands and Gothi once more gave another blessing to the young couple. The last thing to do was the kiss.

Green and blue met as they looked at one another nervously. The young bride gulped trying not to let her lips get any drier. When she looked at her groom she gave a small nod and then relaxed. She closed her eyes and waited just like she did back in the small cave. It was Hiccup's turned to gulp and check if he was ready, but seeing her close her eyes and trust him gave him a little bit of courage. He pulled his hand out of the sash and softly cupped her face as he leaned in once more to capture her lips. It was now that both teens felt the butterflies in their stomach go wild. It was when the soft clapping was heard did they pull away. Their faces a shade red from the public display.

The newlyweds turned to the sea of villagers still holding one another's hand as the sash was being taken off. What they saw was everyone lightly clapping, a few happy for them, most looked indifferent, and others clearly couldn't hide their disdain at the scene. Those were the people Eira couldn't overlook and she looked down in shame.

Hiccup saw this and although he wasn't new to any of these looks, he didn't want her to experience any of these types of glares. To make her feel better he gently squeezed her hand. She glanced at him and was rewarded with one of his small grins, which made her sigh but copy him back. He softly told her, "Let's get out of here."

She could only nod. She picked up her skirt as her new husband led them back to the Great Hall for the festivities to begin. And of course, everyone moved out of the couple's way. It helped to have a Night Fury following closely behind them.

It was late into the day and the celebration was still going on. One thing to know about Vikings is that if there was reason to party, they did... and hard. Hiccup even learned a couple of things about Eira during the celebration. Like despite how her new tribe felt about her she never gave them the satisfaction of seeing her upset. She greeted all of them with a smile and polite conversation, whether it was short or not. He was starting to enjoy the way she smiled. He was also founding out that she didn't seem to mind all the chaos that came with living with dragons on an island. Though she still jumped when one let out a roar or ran by her unexpectedly. It reminded him of a nervous bunny. He also learned that she would either tap her foot to the music or catch her swaying lightly if she was standing. Seeing her do it for another round gave him the courage to ask her, "Would you like to join them?"

"What?" she blinked at him.

He chuckled softly, "Would you like to dance? I've noticed the way you've been looking at the dance floor and I know I have two left feet, which is saying something since I only have the one foot, but if you want to we could try."

She looked at him studying to see if he was serious. When seeing that he was she took a look back towards the dance floor. She watched the people twirl and spin in time with the rhythm causing her to smile once again. Then she said something that caused the young male some confusion, "Maybe another time. I actually don't know how to dance." She smiled at him. It was the same smile that Hiccup was beginning to enjoy from her. "Thank you for the offer though."

"Oh," he said looking out at the dance floor and then back to her. He ended up copying her smile as he replied, "Then maybe I could teach you if you would like."

"I would like that."

They didn't even notice how close they were to each other until Eira felt the brush of Hiccup's hand against hers. That's when she did take notice at the brand new ring her husband was sporting causing a deep red blush to spread across her cheeks.

He was about to ask if she was okay when one of the women who were helping Eira earlier came up to them.

"Well, there's the blushing new bride." She saw who the young girl was talking to and commented, "and it looks like you two are getting along."

It was Hiccup's turn to blush, but he had to agree with the other woman. "It's been..." he took a glance at his new wife and the corners of his mouth turned up,"...pleasant."

"That's good," the woman beamed, "but I hope you don't mind if I borrow your wife for a moment. Don't worry you'll get her back."

"Um," he said not sure what to say to that, but also did not have a choice in the matter as Eira was being dragged away before he could even answer. With the hall being as crowded as it was he lost sight of her very quickly and in truth, he wasn't sure why he felt a bit sadden with her disappearing. He shrugged it off and decided to go find his friends to hang out with. That is when he was stopped too.

"Hiccup! There you are son!" yelled his father who waved him over.

He went and was greeted by not only his father but Eira's as well. They both seemed to be enjoying the evening and asked if he was also. He nodded but a question was still bothering him. "You wouldn't happen to know where they took Eira, would you. I kind of wanted her to come hang out with the gang and I. Get her use to Berk a little bit more."

Both fathers looked towards each other before Illfuss answered, "They're getting her ready."

"Ready for what?"

Stoick was the one to answer this time, "To consummate your marriage with her."

All the color drained from the lad's face as he stumbled out, "To- to what?"

"It's your wedding night boy. You do know what happens right?" Illfuss said a bit more firmly than he had hoped but in a couple of hours, he was going to have to watch the string bean of a Viking take his little girl.

"No," Hiccup said but then corrected himself, "I mean I know what happens. I just didn't realize how late it was. How close it was to that." He looked like he was going to pass out.

"Maybe you should go find your friends, son. Find you a drink too. It will calm your nerves."

The teen nodded and quietly left the men.

Illfuss watched the boy go and then sighed. He took a long swig of his mead before speaking, "I'm sorry I was so rough on your son Stoick. I just don't think I'm ready for this night myself."

The Berk Chief understood. He didn't think he was prepared for this himself. On his wedding night, Valka was able to convince the council to have a curtain between their bed and the strangers' eyes. But that was years ago and a different group back then. Then the idea struck him, "I'll be back Illfuss just finish your drink."

It was a while later when Hiccup was approached by the group of Vikings, the two Chiefs, and Gothi.

"Hiccup," Stoick said, "It's time."

The trip to his new house was a very quiet and awkward one. He felt numb walking and it wasn't because of the few drinks he had thanks to his fellow Vikings. He opened the door and it felt heavier than any other door he had ever opened. Stepping inside it was warm and that was because of the small fire lit in the pit. But the first thing his eyes were drawn to was his wife. Eira was sitting in one of the chairs by the table. Her brown hair falling like a cascading waterfall down her back. She wore a light cream floor-length nightgown with a dark pink rose robe that was loosely tied. She stood when he entered the room and it was clear that she was feeling uncomfortable. Hiccup was too and he tried to swallow those nerves. He walked up to her and with a shaky voice said her name.

She said his just the same but catching the looks of the group standing in the doorway she knew it was her turn to continue the marriage ritual. Her hands were shaking as she reached for the wreath on his head. Once off she laid it on the table and move to unclasp his coat from his shoulders. Her hands were trembling so much that it was a more difficult task than she intended. She only stopped when she felt her husband's hands clasp her own. She looked up at him and he softly told her.

"Take your time."

"It's hard with all of them staring at me," she whispered loud enough for only him to hear.

He threw a glance over his shoulder at all the people there. That's when he shuffled a little to block their view of Eira, at least the best he could, "Is that better?"

She couldn't see anyone of them and so in her mind it was the best thing. She nodded and she tried to unclasp the cloak one more time. Luckily, she was able to do it this time however she almost dropped it on the floor trying to fold it. She cast her eyes at the council trying to sense their reactions but they were all stone cold. A sigh escaped her when she placed the fur on the table next to Hiccup's crown. She turned back to Hiccup and tried her best to give him a smile letting him know she was okay.

He didn't buy that especially when her hands were trembling again. Yet he couldn't blame her, her next task was to take off the belt he wore over his tunic. It rested on his hips, but the buckle was very close to an intimate part of him. He held her hands again and with a squeaky voice told her, "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I do this part. There's no need-"

"No," she cut him off, "I- I need to do this. It's part of my duty as your wife. I have to be the one to undress you and make sure you're ready."

Both of their faces were on fire. As her hands touched the metal they both ended up jumping at the sound of another voice that cut through the thick tense air.

"Hiccup. Eira."

"Yes, sir," Eira said to the Berkian Chief.

"Dad."

"I think the council and I agree that we have seen enough."

Eira's eyes widen in fear. She had known she was going to mess up somewhere down the line and of course, it had to be the last thing she had to do. She cast her eyes downward and quietly apologized to Hiccup.

Stoick continued, "We are all in agreement that it would be best that you two should be able to finish this part of the marriage alone." When seeing the teens stunned and confusing faces the burly Viking decided to elaborate. "We believe that both of you are mature enough to handle this without the need of us babysitting you." Still seeing the stunned faces of the teens he asked, "Unless you two think otherwise?"

"NO!" Both shouted, snapping out of their confusion then settling down to count the small blessing that they were given. Though it did not mean that their blushes did not go away. In fact, it brightened tenfold when they were left alone in the very quiet but warm house.

Hiccup stood there unsure what to do as the newly built front door finally closed. It took moments for him to finally look at his new wife and from the way she was looking it seemed like she was in the same headspace as him. Relieved, but still frightened. It was, after all, a first for both of them. He was able to ask her a question, yet all he received was a head nod as an answer. It was an answer though and so he led her to their bedroom. He allowed her to go in first and when she took a seat on the edge of the bed he copied sitting beside her.

Again the awkward silence crept in between them.

"So..."

"So..."

Both sighed not sure how to go about anything. They fidgeted and looked at anything and everywhere besides each other.

It was only when Eira asked did Hiccup look, "What should we do now?"

"Um," he gulped. "I'm not entirely sure... I mean we could kiss again. That is if you want to?"

"I guess that's one of the ways to get things started, right?" she wavered.

He nodded and turned to face her.

She wasn't looking at him but did move so her frame was facing him. Her eyes were glued to her hands and the small gold band around her finger. She did her best to control her breathing. If her hands weren't steadily in her lap she knew they would be shaking. She jumped at the small touch of Hiccup's this leading her blue eyes to look at his green ones. Her jitteriness made Hiccup squeeze her hands gently.

"Hey," he called softly, "We don't have to –"

She cut him off, "No, we- we do. It's expected of us." She tried to put on a brave face for him, even trying to smile at him though it was not bringing much comfort to either of them.

"Are you sure?" he asked. He was nervous too. His heart thundering in his chest, but he wouldn't lie and say he wasn't the tiniest bit excited. His only answer was another nod, yet his next words made her feel a little bit calmer, "We'll go slowly, okay?"

"O-okay," she stumbled, "Slow it is."

His smile stayed on his lips as he gently rubbed his thumbs on top of her hands. He noticed how soft they were and at that moment the thought of her soft hands touching his skin flooded his mind. Then his mind carried further as he wondered just what other parts of her were this soft. Slowly the heat was rising in another part of him besides his cheeks. He couldn't dwell on any of those thoughts for too long for her voice broke his imagination.

"Hiccup?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to kiss me?"

"Oh," he completely forgot that was the plan, but he agreed and bobbed his head. He scooted closer to her enough to where their outer thighs were touching. He used one of his hands to tuck some strands of her hair behind her ear and he kept it there supporting her head. His thumb gently stroking her cheek. He felt her sigh but when seeing that she had closed her eyes he moved in carefully to capture her lips with his own. Her lips felt just as soft as he remembered it back at the cove and he couldn't help but enjoy every second of this kiss like he did with their first one. Before he could get lost in it completely he felt her pull away. She was huffing lightly when he looked at her.

Eira softly apologized with a deep blush on her cheeks.

"Was that too much?" Hiccup asked copying her breathing.

She shook her head slowly. "I just needed to catch my breath."

He chuckled but agreed. His hand staying at the back of her head and continuing to stroke her cheek. His green eyes intensely on her noticing that her lips were a tad rosier. "Eira?"

"Yes," she breathed causing his heart to pick up its pace.

"May, may I kiss you again?"

She nodded and quietly whispered a yes.

This time he gently took his other hand to run his fingers in her hair. This also allowed him to pull her a little closer as he once again planted his lips against hers.

It surprised her a little causing her small gasp to be muffled by the kiss. It surprised her more when she felt his tongue brush against her lips. That's when she pulled back for a second time, yet they still stayed just as close. Then it wasn't long before she felt him kiss her again and have his hand move from her cheek, down her neck, and then on her shoulder. A shiver escaped her feeling his callous fingertips along her skin. Her eyes were closed but she still felt the soft push of him laying her on the bed. His weight settled next to her as he continued to massage her shoulder and the back of her neck.

Both teens pulled away panting very heavy. Eira only noticing that Hiccup was a little too engulf with what they were doing when she noticed that through their kiss Hiccup had managed to slip her clothing off her shoulder. She didn't think he saw it, however, not when he began to kiss her again. As he was kissing her the young girl did her best to respond to him the way she thought he would like and not catch on how she felt.

Not surprisingly Hiccup did. It was the first time someone was allowing him to be this intimate with them. He moaned softly as he moved his body closer to hers, even becoming so bold to move so that his knees were nestled in between her legs as he tried to move on top of her. His hands exploring just how soft her skin was. However, he needed to breathe again and so he pulled back and far enough to finally get a look at his bride.

Eira was very pretty as she laid underneath Hiccup, especially with her long dark locks behind her falling like a waterfall and her cheeks tinted with her blush. The only problem was she looked like a frightened doe. It was at this point that he saw how bad she was trembling and when he felt her arms move he quickly found out why. During the last kiss Hiccup managed to pull her robe and nightgown down enough to expose her breast.

Even though her arms were covering herself allowing the boy above her not to see anything Hiccup began to feel very sick at the scene. His chest felt tight. Now it was his turn to look scared and back off of her. He was sitting on the edge of the bed trying not to look at her. He was trying to fight the feeling of throwing up when he heard the rustle of her movements and clothing shuffling back into place. He felt her hand on his shoulder as she said his name. Hiccup couldn't look at her as he apologized. "I can't do this," he mumbled defeated to himself. He stood up and turned to head out the door. The only reason he stopped was because of her voice.

"Hiccup, where are you…"

"We can't do this."

"But we have too."

"Who says!" he snapped turning around to look at her as she jumped at his outburst. "Who says we have to do _that. _Those people out there?" He watched as she cast her head down. "Those people barely know us Eira. Hel, we barely know each other and everyone wants us to do _that_? I don't see how that's possible given the fact that we can barely handle even a kiss."

She tried not to cry. Both outcomes were terrifying her but one was more terrifying than the other. The other being that she was failing at pleasing them, her new husband, and even herself. An intake of air and she tried not to have Hiccup hear her sob, yet he did and he sighed.

He sighed because he knew he was the cause of her stress. He walked back over to her and sat next to her. He questioned if he should put his hand on her shoulder or knee. In the end, he just kept it at his side. He took a breath then said her name. She didn't respond to him so he said it again. "Eira?"

She could only whisper and he barely caught it, "Did I do something wrong?"

He was in shock by her words that it made him stumbled out his thoughts, "What? No, how could you? How can you think like that? The only thing wrong is," he paused as the truth was finally sinking in, "It's us." He sighed, "Eira, I think we messed up."

Both looked at one another. The new wife looking at her husband for an answer. "Then was do we do? They're going to…" she couldn't finish her sentence but luckily Hiccup already knew what she meant.

"I can figure something out. I've talked myself out of worse situations," he tried to joke, yet neither of them laughed knowing that this was serious for both of them.

"Hard to lie when your wife is still intact or that the sheets-" she stopped as her eyes grew as if a light finally clicked on in her head. "The sheets."

"What about them?" he asked bewildered and then watched as she stood up and started to search for something. "What are you looking for? Whoa!" he shouted as Eira turned around with a knife in her hand. "What's that for?"

"Did they not tell you?"

"Tell me what?" he watched her closely as she took her spot back on the bed.

When she realized what he was thinking a corner of her lip turned upward. She then reassured him, "Don't worry I'm not going to use it on you."

That did not calm him at all, "then what's it for?"

The girl sighed as she explained, "A girl bleeds her first time, so I'm going to make it look like I had my first time."

Hiccup was intrigued but still puzzled, "How are you going to do that?"

She took a deep breath as she pressed the blade to her palm, "I'm going to make myself bleed." She closed her eyes and was about to make the cut when he stopped her.

"Wait," he took the knife from her.

"What are you-" she gasped when he winced and made a small cut on his hand. He moved a couple of sheets and allowed a few droplets to fall on them. "Why would you do that?"

He smiled, "They may question why you have a bandage on your hand. Me, however, well I'm accident prone."

Eira looked at the boy with admiration and disbelief at the selflessness of him. She then went to wrap his hand up.

While she was taking care of his hand, a blush crept its way back to his cheeks. Her fingertips were just as soft and she was being very gentle with him. Then bandage went on too fast for his liking, but the way she smiled at him when done made his heart skip a beat. "Finished?" he squeaked.

She nodded her smile never leaving as she looked at him, "All good and just like new."

He copied her and then said, "Thank you."

Eira shook her head and looked him in his eyes, "No, Hiccup. Thank you."

Then in the briefest of seconds, he felt her lips on his cheek as she gave him a quick peck.

"Uh yeah," the blush still clinging to his cheeks. "No problem. That's what husbands do right?" Those words were incredibly strange coming from him. Both now sitting in silence staring at the gold bands on their fingers. Their reality coming to the forefront finally. He sighed and spoke, "We really are married to one another, huh?"

She nodded, "It would seem so." She sighed and took a look at him. She couldn't express how grateful she was to him. She knew he didn't have to accept her. Others clearly rejected her and her father's offer so why did the boy next to her become her husband, make her his wife. She was about to ask when he beat her to the punch.

"It's getting pretty late and today has been… something. Maybe we should go to bed?"

She agreed and was preparing to slide in on the larger frame one they would be sharing as a married couple when she saw him head towards the door. "Where are you going?"

Hiccup flashed her a smile, "I was able to sneak my old bed upstairs. I figured you would need some time before we started sharing things like that." In truth, that was a lie. It was Hiccup that needed the time to feel comfortable enough to share a bed with someone other than a dragon. He also never snuck a bed upstairs either but he knew there were furs and other things he could use and it wasn't the first time he had slept on a floor.

It still caught Eira off but she accepted it even though she wouldn't have mind. She also knew that it wasn't best to argue with your husband's decisions. Instead, she just wished him a good night and received butterflies in her stomach when he smiled and did the same.


	2. Part Two

**Part Two:**

Months had gone by on Berk and the newly wedded couple seemed to be getting along, which was a relief to not only them but their fathers as well. The house was rearranged to make room for the Night Fury much to the rider and dragon's happiness. It was the least the new wife could do for her husband who gave up so much for her, including a bed. She had figured out within the first month he had lied and was sleeping on the floor. It was one reason she was trying so hard to find him one, but it was hard to ask anyone without them suspecting something more was going on. How was she supposed to go through a conversation of whether she was expecting a child when the furthest she had ever done with her spouse was a simple kiss. She would have to figure it out sooner or later.

Currently, she was collecting some of their dirty linen in a bucket to clean later in the day. She was humming softly to herself when she felt a familiar nudge of a dragons' snoot. The tune stopped as she tried to stop the reptile's eagerness. "Ah, Toothless. Not for you."

He whined and gave her a puppy dog pout.

She turned away trying her best not to fall for it. The dragon did this whenever he wanted an extra fish or a treat and she always fell for it. Yet she couldn't this time her husband already gave her a lecture that it needed to stop. The mighty beast was becoming slower because of some of the weight gain. Another nudge from him made her a little firmer. "Toothless no I can't."

He whined more throwing himself flat on the floor trying his best to give her the biggest pout a dragon could.

The girl groaned and was only saved when the rider's voice broke through from the stairs.

"Toothless no. You need to leave Eira alone. She's not giving you anymore treats until your speed is back up to par."

The dragon got up in a huff and walked out the front door clearly annoyed.

Eira sighed and thanked him, "Who knew it was hard to say no to a Night Fury?"

He shrugged smiling. "Told you not to spoil him or you'll be sorry."

She couldn't argue with him, "Yeah, he just reminds me of-"she stopped herself. "Never mind, he's just very cute."

Hiccup was about to question the comment, but she continued.

"So, what are the plans for today Hiccup?"

"Um," he shook his head trying to remember his plans. "I believe I'm training with the gang at the academy and then helping my father with a few things. May stop by blacksmith shop if I have time." He sighed at the last comment though, "and if there are no mishaps with the dragons, which I am sure there will be, I will be in charge of cleaning that up."

"Oh," her face fell, "So another long day again."

"Yeah, I guess so." He said, "Is that a problem? Did you need me-"

"No," she smiled at him hoping it was convincing, "just planning dinner."

"Okay," he said." I can always try to make it to dinner here or even in the Hall."

The girl shook her head. "It's okay. I may just end up eating at the Hall. Saves me the trouble of the clean-up."

"Are you sure?" he asked and seeing her nod he smiled. "Well, I'll try to make it up there in time to see you." That's when the idea struck him, "Maybe we could even eat with the rest of the gang too!"

"Uh, sure…Why not?" she tried not to let him see her weariness of the plan and lucky for her he never did. He was now very excited about the evening to come.

"I'll try to wrap up with whatever my dad has to torture me with today and as soon as I can I will meet you and the gang for dinner. Of course, I'll mention it to the gang when we train, but I am sure they wouldn't turn down the offer."

"Sounds wonderful," she said through a forced grin.

"This is going to be great!" Hiccup beamed and then moved on to Toothless getting him ready for his day. As he was packing the saddle he stopped and began searching for something. It didn't take long for him to find it because Eira was holding it for him to grab. He was grateful but a little surprised. "How did you-"

"You always grab it before you go," she cut him off.

He nodded and thanked her. He tucked the notebook away and then set off for his day still excited for the evening he was planning.

Eira waved goodbye at the two boys as they took off. When it was clear they were far enough away she let out the longest sigh she could muster. Dinner with Hiccup was always pleasant and the conversations they had have been decent, if not cheerful. He would at least consider her words if a problem was mention, something that rarely happened in her old tribe. The problem was that Hiccup's friends were not warming up to her like her dear husband thought they were. However, it seemed that both sides were able to hide it well to make the young teen happy. She just didn't know how long they could keep it up and she had a feeling that this dinner would be the one to end the façade.

When Hiccup brought up the idea of everyone gathering in the Great Hall for dinner everyone was on board with it. That was until he mentioned his wife joining in and he saw their face fall, especially Astrid's.

"Is there something wrong with Eira being there?"

"Nothing wrong," Fishlegs said trying to defuse the young rider's suspicion. "Just the way you first put it made it sound like it would be like old times with the six of us."

"Oh," Hiccup said a little guilty, "I'm sorry. I just figured it would be nice if she joined us. It will help her feel like she belongs here a little more."

"Does she though?" Astrid asked making Hiccup send her a questioning gaze. The blonde warrior sighed, "When was the last time she rode a dragon?"

"Or been near one?" Snotlout asked smugly as he cleaned some dirt under his nails.

All their eyes were on him making him slightly nervous. "She's been near Toothless. Rode him once with me." That did not seem to sway their judgment. "She just needs time to adjust guys. We can at least give her that." Their frowns or downward glances were not something he was expecting but Fishlegs at least tried to have his side. It did not stop the comments though.

"Even though she's uptight?" Tuffnut chuckled.

"Or Ms. Prim and Proper," Ruffnut tried her best to sound elegant with a hint of teasing in her voice. It made all the rest of the gang chuckle.

All but Hiccup. He stood there in a defeated stance as they talked about the young girl. He couldn't deny what they were saying was wrong, but he also knew they didn't know her as he did over the course of the few months. That's why he hoped that this dinner was going to show them the Eira he was getting to know rather than the one they were describing. In the end, they were all able to focus and work on their training at the Academy until Hiccup had to leave to go help his father with the task of being a Chief, or future Chief.

When the Night Fury rider and his dragon were gone that's when the conversations really began on the newcomer. It was already clear that they were not too sure of her, but none made it more clear on their stance of the situation more than Astrid. They could all see that she still had feelings for their leader but all knew never to bring it up because there wasn't a point to dwell on it when nothing could be done. Hiccup made his choice on the matter and Hofferson gave her opinion and it did not sway his mind. However, her place in all this made the others question if they were doing right by both their friends or were, they just being mean to someone just new.

Eira was coming back from the small river she had been using to wash their clothes. She didn't know how it was possible that a person could dirty so many shirts but Hiccup was on the verge to prove that it can be done. She felt that she could trek this path blindfolded if she had to. That is how many times she had to do this chore to keep him from going around topless. She blushed at the thought of that but quickly shook it away to refocus. It gave her the chance to meet some of the villagers and it did remind her somewhat of being home. The small tune she was humming as she was walking home was also one she would sing whenever she would keep her father's home in order. The music only stopped when she ended up embarrassed when the Vikings complimented her on the little melody.

"Oi, I bet you make that little husband of yours very happy when you sing that tune, huh?"

"I suppose," she squeaked but made a hurried excuse of needing to hang up her linen to escape the conversation. This was the first time she had the courage to actually sing on Berk. It was just her luck someone was around to hear her, and she just prayed that the person wouldn't be spreading that information around. She didn't know if she could continue that type of spotlight again. She sighed in relief when making it to her home. She was in such a relief that she barely missed the fact that there were guests at her house. Though the guests were acting a bit odd as they stood on their two head dragon.

"Um, excuse me," she called out causing the two to lose focus and fall straight to the ground. This caused the young girl to drop what she was holding and rush to their aid. "Oh, my Gods are you two okay?!" she went to help one of them up. When helping them to their feet she realized who they were. "You're Hiccup's friends Ruffnut and Tuffnut, right?"

The female scoffed and brushed off the dirt, "Yeah, and what's it to you?"

"Um," she was slightly confused by the female's rudeness but tried to be civil with them, "just wondering since you two are sneaking around my hut."

"Huh, really? Thought this was Hiccup's."

She bit her cheek and smiled the best she could as she reminded them, "Yes, it is, and he is the one I am married to and making this home mine as well. So, if you don't mind explaining what you two are doing snooping around my home."

Both the Thorston twins looked at each other mumbling to one another and taking glances back at the girl that interrupted them. They did this for a while until they turned to her and decided to let her in on their little secret as not to get into trouble.

"You see Madam," Tuffnut started trying to sound regal but only caused Eira to be more taken back. "We were planning to hide behind this structure as our devious plan unfolds."

Ruffnut nodded in agreement continuing her brother's statement. "And your hut, as you put it, is the perfect advantage point to see it unfold while also concealing us to escape fault."

"What plan?" she asked soon regretting the question by the look in their eyes. However, she soon began to chuckle when they finally and reluctantly told her the prank they were about to pull. Though her laughter caught them off guard.

"Wait, you're not mad?"

"And you're not going to stop us?"

Eira shook her head. "Why? It's just a harmless prank." She paused and made sure, "it is harmless correct?"

They both nodded and when seeing that she believed them Ruff whispered to her brother making him chortle, "To us."

After the green light from the house owner, the twins began to climb back onto their dragons to peer over the rooftop to see their master plan unfold on a certain Viking friend of theirs.

Eira on the other hand was picking up her laundry and hoping none of it managed to land in the dirt. Thankfully, it didn't mean she was saved from going to the stream for a different day. She finished hanging up the wet clothes but every couple of shirts she would take a glance at the twins and wonder. She would wonder what it would be like to actually join them. To have a moment to know what it was like to have a friend or two. She sighed, she didn't want to ruin their fun, and since she wasn't invited to join she didn't feel right to do so herself. That is until she heard them snicker again and her curiosity outweighed the fact she could be rejected.

"Do you mind if I watch?"

"What?" they both asked.

Eira swallowed a lump in her throat as she clarified, "Do you two mind if I join you?"

Ruffnut was the first to speak, "You want to watch Snotlout get his ugly self into one of our traps?"

She nodded making Tuffnut question her motives.

She was a little embarrassed but she told them the truth, "I never really partaken to anything fun."

"Is prim and proper serious?" the male twin asked his sister.

The nickname not going unnoticed by Eira but it was better than what she had heard before her time here.

"I think she is." Both of the siblings took a look at her then at each other then back at her before deciding that it was okay. "Don't think you can climb on top of a Zippleback's neck, could you?"

Her blue eyes scanned up the thin reptilian's neck and she wavered. "Um, I don't believe I could. Not yet anyway. I do think I could sit behind the house over there. I am sure that I won't be seen."

They shrugged, "Suit yourself. Oh! Look! Here he comes!" All their attention was not on the victim of their prank.

Eira rushed over to her spot hiding just enough that no one would notice her if they were caught. The twin's prank did not disappoint either. In a matter of moments, Snotlout was hanging upside down with a bunch of honey, twigs, and leaves covering him. Some even up in his nose. It caused the trio to laugh especially when he began screaming at his dragon to help him and to stop eating the evidence. Eira was holding her sides as she wiped away a small tear from her eye. Through her laughter, she managed to spill out the following, "Oh, I haven't laughed like that since Old man Kirk got flung out of the boar pit and headfirst into manure."

That caught the attention of the twins immediately but they couldn't ask about any of it for another one of their friends had caught them in the act. Luckily, it was only Fishlegs.

"What are you three doing?"

"Nothing," the twins said in unison.

"Laundry," Eira gulped, and then she thought, "Great… the first time you have fun with others, and now you're in trouble."

"Yeah, we were helping Eira here with her laundry. Isn't that right, Eira?"

She could only nod too afraid to speak out yet it was clear that the larger Viking wasn't buying what the trio was saying. At least not all of it.

"Since when did the two of you do laundry?"

They both gasped in horror and tried to deflect the question asking their fellow friend when he became so mean. All Eira could do was sit back and allowed the three to argue. When the argument was becoming less on her she took her chance and turn her attention to somewhere else. Her eyes looked down the hillside and saw Snotlout in the tree still. She figured that the poor Jorgenson. Had suffered enough.

When coming up to the slowly spinning dragon rider she tried her best to hold in her fit of giggles as she flashed him a smile and a small, "Hey."

He huffed, "Oh great you're here to laugh at me too." He crossed his arms making a small squish sound because of the honey he was covered in.

Again she tried to hide her chuckles as she shook her head, but her smile would not leave while she explained to the poor lad, "Not exactly." She held up a small paring knife and walked up to where the rope was tied to the tree holding the fella up. She gave him the warning to brace himself as she cut through the rope, but he didn't listen. Instead, he was bragging about himself and how strong he was and that he would have not had fell for this trap if his dragon were more focused on where they were going.

Hookfang did not appreciate the comment and set himself on fire glaring at his rider until he apologized.

He quickly did and to add to his apology he fell hard to the ground with a thud making the Monstrous Nightmare laugh at the boy's expense. The two griped with each other as they walked away the short Viking never thanking Eira for her good deed in the matter.

She just stood there blinking and called out softly towards the two before heading back to her house, "You're welcome."

Arriving back at her home she wasn't surprised that she was now alone with the small group of friends leaving to continue with their day, whatever that may have been. She sighed and then went to go finish her chores around the house before it was time to prepare for dinner with Hiccup and his friends in the Great Hall. She picked up the basket she had and sighed once more, "Well it was fun while it lasted."

It became late way too soon and Eira made her way up to the long stairway towards the Great Hall. She was nervous and kept fiddling with the hem of her sleeves. Hiccup had given her the sad news earlier that he would not be making it to the dinner he had set up with their friends. His friends. Another sigh escaped her as she fulfilled her promise to her husband and went inside the building to go tell the other teens that he would not becoming but she would still eat with them. If they were willing. She was only brave enough to do this by repeating to herself that she was doing a duty of representing her new household name. It was the only thing that she was familiar with since arriving on the island. She put on her best smile as she walked over to a table where her blue eyes had caught all of them sitting.

Walking up to them all conversation stopped when she made her presence known. Smiling she gave her best, "Good evening everyone." All she received was stares and a glare making her gulp and then give a small cough to clear her throat and nerves away. "Um, I'm not sure if any of you are aware but my husband sends his apologies. He won't be able to attend dinner with us tonight."

"Our friend," Astrid corrected her in a small snippy tone, "already told us. We thought you weren't coming and unfortunately there's no room here for you because of this."

Eira looked around at the group of friends noting that there was plenty of room at the table, but she could see she was not welcome. She bent her head down and took a breath. She lifted it back up with a smile and said her goodbyes in the politest manner possible before taking her leave.

As the new girl was leaving the twins took a moment to look at each other and then their other friends. They all seemed to have the same thought. All but Astrid. Ruffnut was the one to call it out, however.

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh? We could have at least let her eat with us."

Fishlegs was the next to break, "We did promise Hiccup we would."

"And have our evening ruined?" Astrid asked. "No thanks." She then went back to her meal but stopped when no one was joining her. She was confused and asked, "What?"

"Nothing," Tuffnut answered, "But I suddenly lost my appetite."

His sister agreed and both twins stood up and walked away both carrying their half-eaten meal.

The blonde was still puzzled by their behavior but waved the two off as being their strange selves. She continued to eat not noticing that Snotlout and Fishlegs seemed to be in the same boat. Both mindlessly pushing their food around their plates.

While the twins were walking away they came upon the girl that was turned away. She was sitting by herself eating quietly. This only making the twins feel guiltier at how they were treating her. And so they had the idea on how to change their mood. If she could not eat with them then maybe they could eat with her.

Eira was sitting at the table in silence. She was used to eating by herself. It came with the territory of having a father who was a busy Chief and for a tribe not wanting to associate themselves with her. It would seem that this tribe was beginning to be the same way. She could hear their small whispers and catch their quick glances, but she chose to ignore them, holding back her tears as she tried to enjoy her meal. She refused to let anyone see that she was upset especially her new tribe. That is why she was so focused on the food that she didn't realize someone had joined her until she heard the placement of dishes and utensils. She looked up when the sound of two thuds from the bench could be heard and she was greeted with the sight of not one but both of the twins. Confused she asked, "Um, hello?"

They both had food in their mouths, but one of them was able to speak as they chewed, "Mind if we joined you?"

"Uh," she started, "you already are…"

"Great!"

Eira blinked at the twins in disbelief. She even looked around to see if there were signs of some sort of prank that was being pulled on her. Finding none, she was still baffled by the fact that anyone, let alone the Thorston pair, was sitting next to her. What shocked her the most was how anyone could chew, swallow, and talk at the same time and not choke. Eira did her best to continue her own dinner even though her two new guests were a bit distracting. They were so distracting that she completely missed their question.

She shook her head to regain her focus as she asked them, "I'm sorry I missed what you said. Do you mind repeating it?"

Ruffnut swallowed the food in her mouth and wiped some juices that dribbled down her chin. "You mention a boar pit earlier. What's that about?"

"Oh!" she gave a soft smile remembering that day. "I did yes. Back in my village," she paused and corrected herself, "my _old_ village. We held boar pit tournaments. My father loved them, even join in a few of them."

"Yeah, that's great an all, but you mention someone one being thrown?"

"Flung actually," she held back her laughter at the memory. It was one of the few days that held happy memories for her back in her home village. Yet that simple question is how it all began that led Eira telling the whole story of how a man was buck into the air and across multiple houses in her ex-village. It led to having another person, Fishlegs, join them and then another, Snotlout. After a while, the small group was exchanging colorful stories of the past and it brought on a ton of laughter for everyone.

With all the merriment happening at the table it wasn't long until a certain blonde caught sight of the group. In truth, Astrid wasn't mad at her friends. She wasn't even mad at the newcomer. They all seemed to be having a good time and no one looked upset. Well, maybe Snotlout did but Astrid could only assume that they did not give him the compliment or praise that he thought he deserves. It made Astrid question exactly what she was feeling and in her own defense, she just felt confused. She didn't like the feeling. It made her feel vulnerable and there was one thing a Hofferson wasn't and that was being vulnerable and weak. That is how the brunet made her feel and she just couldn't stomach going over there and pretend she was okay. Not with how she was acting towards everyone. Defiantly not how she still felt about her friend's marriage with the other girl. That only left Astrid to do one thing. She walked away and decided to go home for the evening. Back to her dragon, Stormfly. Back to where she could pretend that everything was the same. Back where she could imagine that she still had a shot with the green-eyed, freckle face dragon rider.

It was very dark when Hiccup and Toothless strolled into the Great Hall. He wasn't looking forward to cold whatever they had for dinner that night. It was better than nothing, however. Extremely better than regurgitated fish from Toothless. He shivered at the thought. Thinking back on it he really should have taken up on Eira's offer to cook dinner instead of coming here. A sigh escaped the rider as he carried the dish to an empty table. He was about to sit down when he froze. A faint noise had caught his attention and when concentrating on it he found he was listening to a group's laughter. His curiosity got the best of him as he made his way with his plate to see who was still in the Great Hall at this hour. He peeked around a pillar and caught sight of his friends. Taking a better look, he became more excited to see that it wasn't only just them, but Eira as well. What made him pause in his tracks was seeing a smile on the young girl's face. A smile that he could not recall ever seeing on her face since she had arrived here. It made his heart beat faster in his chest when looking at her. He shook it off quickly hoping his face wasn't red like he felt it was and continued towards the table.

A large grin was on Hiccup's face as he greeted them and right away, he was sat between Ruffnut and Snotlout, which meant he was sitting diagonally across from his pretty wife. He flashed her a smile during one of Fishlegs rants on dragons seeing as she was doing her best to absorb all the information coming her way. He could tell she was struggling by her forced smile and continuous head nodding. Though he noticed her eyes quickly darted his way to catch his grin and if he was a betting man, he could have sworn that her cheeks were growing a tad rosier from it. Hiccup ended up chalking it up to the lighting in the room, even though torches and fire pits did not cast that type of glow.

By the time Hiccup was done eating they all decided that it was time to head home. This only left the trio of Hiccup, Eira, and Toothless in the Great Hall. As the male teen went to go clean up his dinner the female teen was stuck with the infamous Night Fury. The overgrown reptile had his head at the perfect height for Eira to gently stroke his scales and while she was doing that, she pulled herself to softly hum the same tune as she did earlier in the day.

Hiccup was returning back to the duo but stopped when he heard the young lady's voice. He honestly didn't know that she had a talent like that and even though all she was doing was humming it still caught Hiccup in a daze. It caused the corner of his lips to turn up slightly before he had to stop her abruptly by saying her name.

Before he could even ask about what she was singing she had asked her own question, "So are we ready to go?"

He could only nod, "Yeah, whenever you two are."

Toothless bounded up to his rider at hearing this and Eira shortly joined them.

The walk back started quietly enough but soon Hiccup began to strike up a conversation with her, "So what did you think about the gang?"

She took her time to find the right words but all she could say about them was, "They are interesting, to say the least." Seeing him agree she continued, "but they are also very sweet. I can see why they are your friends."

"Our friends," he corrected her but saw her bewilderment and chuckled, "What? Did you think after tonight they weren't your friends as well?"

"I-" she felt a bit embarrassed as she admitted to him the truth. "I wasn't sure. I never really had a group of friends. Not with the way my old tribe held certain expectations for me."

"Really?" he was astonished by this new information. He knew the Southern Sea Walker tribe had certain standards and traditions but he never thought that the girl in front of him wouldn't have a group of friends or guys pinning after her attention. It was slowly making sense of how she was handling herself in her new tribe and around everybody who even dared to greet her. Seeing Eira bend her head down to avoid eye contact he realized he had to backpedal and give her some type of confidence boost. "Hey now," he stopped them in their tracks to put his hands on her shoulders. He looked her in her eyes, tilting her chin up to do so. "It's okay. To be honest these guys weren't my friends at first either. In fact," he chuckled trying to make his past seem not as dark in his mind or in his words, "I am pretty sure the tribe was about to kick me out if something didn't change soon with me." He rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness as his other hand moved away from her shoulder to his own hip when he saw the surprise look in her eyes.

"Truly?"

He confirmed it with a nod but smiled when Toothless rubbed against him sensing his friend's distress. "Yeah, but lucky for me something did and here we are."

Eira copied Hiccup's smile when it was clear that whatever happened to change the person's life had to do with the bond between the Night Fury and Viking. Though she knew it was a tale that needed to be told another day. One she would happily listen to and could wait for since they were back at the doorstep of their home.

Toothless already making his way inside and up the stairs to his large slab of flat stone. The crackling of his fire hitting his bed could be heard as the two humans enter the main portion of the house. Both even laughing at the joke that was made towards the dragon in the loft.

The two of them stood there in a peaceful silence, but it was clear that they wanted to say something more to each other. All that would come out of either of their mouths was a fumble of words that wanted the other to go first.

The boy laughed, "Maybe you should go first." She was going to protest but he insisted.

"Okay," she took a deep breath and she wanted to ask him if he wanted to switch places for the night and he would take the bed. Instead, she ended up saying a mindless, but happy good night when she had locked eyes on his. "I hope you have pleasant dreams Hiccup."

His smile was contagious for her and it caused the tiniest blush to appear on her cheeks when he told her, "You too. Good night Eira." He climbed halfway up the stairs but stopped halfway up to tell her, "See you in the morning."

She paused and gave him a quick nod of her head. Before slipping into the bedroom she then repeated his words back to him, "See you in the morning Hiccup."

This causing the same fluttering of his heart from earlier and his own cheeks to red. Another reason for his reaction was also because he had caught the girl untangling her dark hair from her bun. When the strands were unraveled, he saw that she moved it all to one side combing her fingers through it releasing any tangles and knots that may have formed in the process. The young Haddock swallowed the lump that had somehow form in this throat but then quickly raced up the stairs when she had turned around to look at him. He just prayed that she really had not caught himself staring at her like he was some kind of pervert. For it wasn't a big deal all Eira was doing was getting herself ready for bed. "A bed that they were supposed to be sharing," his mind added. He quickly shook his head telling himself that it wasn't proper to do so. Not with the lack of knowing each other and still building their own trust, even though it had been months since they have been living with one another. He sighed as he grabbed the sheets and pillows from their spots and began making his bed on the floor once again.

_It was in the middle of the night when he blinked and slowly rubbed his eyes to open. When the blurriness of the room cleared and the dimming candlelight was filtered through he could see that someone was standing in the middle of the doorway to the loft where he slept. He blinked again and saw that it was the only other person that could be sleeping in the home as well._

_"Eira?" he asked, "What are you doing up here and awake?"_

_She stood there and looked around the room noticing that he was still sleeping on the floor with only a couple of wool blankets as his misshape bed. It made her question him, "you still do not have a bed up here?"_

_He stumbled which made it clear to her that he was lying, "Um, no. I mean I did. It was that Toothless had just broken it." He saw her eyebrow raise making him reform the sentence since the dragon was on the other side of the room and his own toasted slab of rock. "Not just broken it but I am in search of a new one." Knowing full well that she was not being convinced of what he was spilling he sighed closing his eyes for a moment. "Look Eira," when he looked back up at her she was kneeling next to him catching him off guard on the situation at hand. "How… What are you doing?"_

_Her only response was repeating the question back to him, "What are you doing?"_

_"I-um- I am trying to sleep."_

_"On the floor," she stated. "Even though there is a perfectly good bed downstairs for you. For us." She leaned in a tad closer to the point where he could clearly smell the oils that she used in her baths and if he wanted to, he could easily lean up and capture her lips with his own. _

_He, however, resisted the urge to do so. He adverted his eyes, which was also a bad idea. They ended up catching sight of her exposed shoulder and when he tried to look away his eyes just ended up setting his gaze upon her cleavage. He gulped especially when it seemed that she had pushed her chest a bit towards him. He shook his head and did his best to keep his eyesight on her face. That too was also a mistake because he was staring at her lips and the way she was lightly biting the bottom of hers was almost like she was deliberately teasing him. Egging him to do more than just sit there and stare. He licked his dried lips as he tried to gain any of his brain function back, "I- I was… what to say is I… oh jeez… I didn't want you to be uncomfortable."_

_Her dark blue eyes studied him and noticed how he was breathing a tad bit harder than normal. She also noticed that he kept licking his dry lips and despite the lack of light within the room she could easily see his bright green eyes. She gently cupped his freckle cheek that turned redder once she touched it. Calmly she told him, "And I don't want you uncomfortable." See as he was having a hard time breathing with her presences so close and how red his face was becoming, she asked in a hushed tone, "Are you uncomfortable Hiccup?" Eira scooted closer to him clearly testing to see what the young boy would do now._

_All Hiccup could do was shake his head slowly too afraid that his voice would speak if he actually did try to use it._

_She smiled at him gently stroking his cheek with her thumb as she leaned her head in. Her lips getting ever closer to his as she whispered, "Good. Neither am I." _

_Before he could respond her soft lips were upon his. He blinked and then blinked some more before he could comprehend what she was actually doing. When it finally dawned on him, he copied her and closed his eyes. He shifted his weight as he returned the kiss. He used one of his free hands to hold her head gently and run his fingers through her hair at the base of her scalp. The other hand found its way to rest on top of her thigh. Slowly he moved that hand to her hip as he further the kiss, teasing her slightly by nipping softly at her bottom lip. He did this until a soft moan was heard from her. When that occurred, he gently maneuvered themselves to where she was underneath him. His callous hands were exploring her small frame and as a result, he had managed to push her nightgown up exposing her soft cream color thighs. Hiccup caressed her and moved his lips down her neck causing her to breathlessly say his name. His fingertips dancing across her skin causing the girl beneath him to shiver in pleasure and a small layer of goosebumps form. Her gown finally moved enough to where he could settle in between her legs and lightly press himself against her. She gasped his name out louder and in the midst of his ministrations on her, she bucked her hips into his causing him to hiss in enjoyment as she rubbed against his hardened shaft. He buried his head into the crook of her neck mumbling her name until the idea struck him that he would keep up his teasing of her and carefully bit her neck._

Eira jumped awake as her mind reeled itself back into reality. She found herself back in the bedroom and on the bed. Her breathing was ragged and when her racing heart was calm back down, she pulled her knees close to her chest. This was the first time she had a dream like that and she did not know how to handle such a thing. She wasn't naïve to know what she was dreaming about. It was just the first time a dream had turn so intimate so fast. The furthest she had ever done in her life was her kiss with Hiccup and lately, if she was going to have a dream, that is all it was. A simple kiss with Hiccup. This, however… well… it was something that apparently, she could dream about that was for certain. Right now, she felt like she was on fire and needed the coldest bath ever in history if she was to go back to bed tonight. The timing to take a bath was not right and so she would have to wait until morning to go soak in the water. Instead, she did the next best thing and went to get a drink of water from a pitcher that was left on the table in the main part of the house.

As she exited the room, she stopped dead in her tracks holding the door. She quickly found out she was not the only one awake so late at night.

The man of her recent dream was sitting at their table with a mug in his hand as he was reading what looked to be a book on the table in front of him. He only looked up when hearing the sound of the door closing. He was confused when seeing her and he had to ask her, "Eira, what are you doing up so late? Is something wrong?"

She brought herself back to reality and shook her head, afraid to use her own voice.

"I didn't disturb you, did I? I thought I was being quiet." He double-checked himself and the table just in case he was mistaken.

This caused Eira's heart to flutter a bit faster. He was adorable and thoughtful despite nothing being wrong. She walked over to him and calmed his nerves by sitting in front of him and touched his arm gently. "No, you were being very quiet. I just woke up needing something to drink."

She could clearly see him physically relax. "Oh, okay." He flashed a smile and said, "I can grab you a cup and you can help me drink the pitcher of water if you want."

She agreed and while he was getting her a cup, she asked him the same question.

When he got back and handed her the drink, he waved his hand dismissively towards the book he was working in. "Eh, you know me. I can't go back to sleep unless I work out every detail that gets stuck in my head." He took a sip of his drink but as he was setting it down, he chuckled a little. "Then again when I finish with that then I am constantly anxious to get working on it."

Eira smiled happily to see him, well, happy. Yet this was a small little fact that she didn't know about him and she was enjoying this side of him. "I actually didn't know that about you."

"Oh," he was surprised, "Sorry. I could try to ease up on it if it bothers you."

"No, why would I want you to stop something you enjoy?"

He could only shrug. "I guess I am used to having people around me not as enthusiastic about this as I am."

That was something she could resonate with and without even thinking she grabbed onto his hand and told him, "I may not find what you do as entertaining as much, but I am happy to listen to whatever it is that you are planning."

A shade of pretty pink reached Hiccup's cheeks as she was holding his hand but when her words finally registered in his head of what she told him he couldn't help but feel relief. A huge grin formed on his face as he looked at her and gave a solid nod. Then he asked, "Do you want to listen to some of the things I got planned?"

"Now?"

His huge grin turned to a sheepishly one. "I don't know. Maybe I was kind of hoping, but I do know it is pretty late and you were just wanting some water to go back to sleep."

Eira tried not to remember the real reason she was up in the first place as he spoke, so instead of letting him continue to ramble and give her a sad puppy dog look on his face, she stopped him. "I would love to hear some."

"Really?" His face lit up.

She gave a nod and chuckled when he became more excited.

Hiccup began his rant on the current invention, but it did not last long because he had just come up with it and not much was put on paper yet to help guide the girl through his thought process. Now he looked confused as to what he wanted to talk to her about next. He was continuously flipping through his sketchbook stopping at one idea and then another. Clearly, he was too excited to tell her all about them and could not land on one to explain the schematics.

That is when Eira offer to take the book from him and when he accepted by handing it over, she closed her eyes. She then opened the cover of the journal and then took the pages in her hands. Her thumb flipped through about half until she stopped and laid the book down on the table. She then turned the book towards Hiccup again and said, "This one. Tell me about this one."

He smiled and nodded. Though he had to turn a few pages back to start at the beginning of the invention, it was still not a big surprise to the lass that the machine was designed in mind for dragons, however. She was just happy to see him acting like a cat who just stolen cream as he explained all the gears and knobs of the contraption and the way everything would move in sync. Then as he was telling her the reason for the idea to even be conjured up it all seemed to click for the girl sitting with him.

A small smile was on her face and she rested her head in her hand. A content feeling was washing over her as she watched the boy ramble and wave his arms about, using them to help convey exactly what the plan would actually be doing. And though she knew it was rude, there were times in his lecture that she would zone out on what he was saying and just watch him. Watching as his green eyes seem to dance with happiness as each part of the idea was laid out for her. Watching as his body language would quickly change depending on if he was describing something large or small. Her watching what he was doing and her being relaxed as she was caused her to ask a question that she had asked him when they first met.

"Why don't you train as the new blacksmith instead of being Chief?"

Hiccup halted at what was asked and the whole room's atmosphere of light heartiness and happiness dropped as he stared at her, "What?"

Eira blinked and shook herself out of her small daze before sitting up and realizing what she had actually said to her husband and stumbled out her explanation, "I-I mean you just seem so tired and exhausted whenever you come back from helping your father and then when you talk about this," she gestured to his book, "you are in more high spirits despite it being so late at night." Eira had hoped what she had said came out the way she had planned, but his response clearly said otherwise.

"Are you saying I wouldn't make a good Chief?"

"No!" She shouted. She then sighed looking away from him for a moment to softly say, "No. That's not what I meant at all, Hiccup."

"Then what did you-"

"I just want to see you happy."

He studied her wondering what she was actually thinking, what she was trying to pull. When he couldn't figure it out, he pressed on, "Why?"

She could look him in the eye when telling him the reason, but a faint blush did form on her cheeks, "I find myself enjoying the fact that you are happy."

That caused him to blush and turn his head away to hide it from her in case she decided to look at him. Through his thought process though he still could not help but wonder if she really understood what she was actually telling him or if her tired brain was causing her to say things she really didn't mean. "So, you would be alright if I didn't become the next Chief?"

"Yes," she softly told him.

"But if I didn't you do realize that your lifestyle would be completely different. You… We," he corrected, "Would most likely struggle more. And with Berk being the way that it is there are few and far jobs in between for a Black Smith with no dragon raids or even battles going on. Gobber barely makes it by just by doing saddles and fixing dragon teeth. I just don't see-"

"Hiccup," she cut him off. "My lifestyle has already changed completely since I move to Berk."

He stared at her like this was a big reveal to him yet when he thought about it, he started to understand. "I guess you're right. I just never thought about it from your point of view, but then again you seem liked you had always lived your life here."

"R-really?"

He nodded a soft smile on his face when confirming it to her. "Guess you fit in here better than you did in your old village."

The young girl sighed, "Some days I don't feel like there's a difference."

"What do you mean?" His head tilted in question.

"A lot of people tend to ignore me. Though I guess that's common when you are a stranger."

"But you weren't a stranger in the other tribe. So how is it the same?"

She looked at him. He was genuinely curious and wanting to understand her old life yet she was not up for diving into that can of worms. Not yet anyway. Her eyes were slowly starting to drift close and her brain felt like it kept starting up only to slowly shut down before redoing the process. That is why she looked at the boy across from her and told him the truth. "I would love to explain it to you, but at the moment I don't think I have the mental compacity to do so." To prove her point her body reacted to her thoughts and let out a yawn that she tried her best to cover with her hand.

Hiccup gave a weak smile as he tried to fight off the yawn that was trying to make its way to the surface. He could only oblige with the offer to put their conversation on hold and go back to sleep when another yawn hit Eira and it caused Hiccup to copy it making him realize how tired he actually was. Despite how much his mind was racing with his inventions and now about Eira and her daily life here on Berk. As the two made their way to their rooms the young dragon trainer smiled towards her and gave her a short wave and a quick goodnight before disappearing up the stairs.

The small gesture made the young girl blush lightly only to quickly repeat it back to him before heading to bed herself. She did her best not to remember her dream from earlier but it slowly crept back into her mind. Eira sighed and thought, "Oh, why in Valhalla's name did he have to be so heartfelt. Why couldn't he just be like any other Viking and be standoffish and rude?" She sighed again at her thoughts as she tossed and turn through the night bothered only by the fact that she didn't know exactly why her cheeks were flushing a pink hue to them whenever her husband would step into a room or give her a flash of his crooked grin or even ask her about her day. "Then again," her lips turn softly into their own grin as she pulled a pillow to hold close to her as she realized exactly what she was feeling towards the boy up above her, "maybe this isn't so bad." Her eyes closed after that final thought as she fell asleep.

It was another day and the young teen was writing happily on a piece of parchment. They were in the shade as they wrote their thoughts down and because of the writer's placement under the small tree, they never saw the company that had shown up.

"Hey, Eira! Whatcha doing there?" One of the twins asked while lounging on their dragon.

She smiled closing the journal Hiccup had given her to do exactly what she was before being interrupted. "Just writing a small letter to my father. It's been a while since I heard from him."

"Uh no offense," the older twin stated, "but you guys tend to use the slowest method when it comes to this stuff."

"The Sea Walker Tribe is very…" she paused trying to say the right word while also trying not to sound insulting of her past village.

"Lame," the twins snicker at the comment.

"Traditional," she corrected. "We all can't adjust our lives as well as Berk has when it comes to dragons."

"Well, you didn't do so bad at adjusting," Tuffnut stated.

She smiled at the compliment, even if it wasn't meant as one, "Thank you, but I am only a person. A tribe is much different. It has a lot more opinions to persuade and with a tribe like the Sea Walkers then it's more difficult with how set in their ways they can be."

That made the twins ask a serious question, "Does your old tribe still kill dragons?"

Eira became really quiet and she seemed to fade out as she held onto her journal. It took Ruffnut snapping her fingers at the girl to ger her back with them. She apologized and then explain. She told the two of them that from what she could remember the village rarely had any dragon raids. She added that she didn't know why they stopped just that she only remembered it happening during her childhood. Occasionally, she would recall them fighting a small group or two but she could not remember anything as bad as what Berk was according to the gang's stories. Though it was possible she could have missed the attacks because of her travels with her father and his men months ago.

"Because of the marriage thing, right?"

She nodded, but again she did not want to remember those days fully either. Despite how she looked or told anyone, those months of being evaluated by tribe after tribe and being rejected did take a toll on her self-esteem. She shook those thoughts away when Ruffnut spoke up again and it confused her.

"Could be because of a nesting ground nearby."

"A nesting ground?"

"You really need to come to the academy," Tuffnut spoke, "You'll learn this stuff faster."

The comment made the young girl realize something, "Aren't you two supposed to be at the Academy? Hiccup said you were going to do some type of exercise?"

Both the twin's eyes widen in shock as they finally remembered what had made them feel like something was off all day. Before racing off they created a plan to hopefully calm the masses of the group for their mistake. "Do you want to come with us?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Come with us. It would make Hiccup happy."

"And us in less trouble," one muttered to the other under their breath.

Eira heard it and was about to flat out refuse the offer and let them suffer in their own consequences until she saw their pleading eyes. She bit her lip and tried to look away. They were right there still giving her their best puppy dog eyes and quivering their bottom lips as they pleaded. Annoyingly she sighed. "I don't even have a dragon. How am I suppose to train with you guys, let alone learn?"

"Just ride behind one of us until we get you one."

"No one would mind."

"Especially if you choose to ride right behind Hiccup," Ruffnut teased her as she blushed at the comment.

Her cheeks redden more when she started to remember her only flight with the boy, she called her husband. How he held onto her making her feel secure and would chuckle whenever she would squeak out a yelp and grip onto the saddle handles and his hands tighter. Then the words of encouragement he gave her as they flew through the clouds to open her eyes and she had the most breathtaking view of not only Berk below her but the soft turning colors of the sky as it tried to fight off a small storm and the sun slowly falling to the horizon. It was a moment she did not ever want to forget, but she shook her head of the memory getting back on the conversation at hand. "That is not the point," she told them, "And what makes you two so sure that I won't damper any one's mood by showing up? The arena, after all, is something for Dragon Riders only."

The twins gave each other sideways glances noticing the blush she trying to hide from them. Tuffnut was the one to whisper to his sister, "Sure that's not the point and yak's dung doesn't stink."

Ruffnut snickered whole heartily agreeing with him.

"I heard that," Eira's face quickly fell, not an inch amusement at their accusations. She stood up, brushed off her dress, and turned on her heels to go inside her house about to leave the twins to whatever punishment they dissevered. "Good day you two and have fun with your _wonderful _training. I am sure no one will be too hard on you."

Both scrambled down off their twin-headed dragon to cut her off and beg her one more time to come with them. Ruffnut even fell to her knees holding onto her legs as Tuffnut whined and pulled on her arm in the direction that they needed to go. They did all this while Eira was rolling her eyes and becoming frustrated with their actions. More so when in unison they started to cry her name.

The poor girl couldn't take it anymore and threw her hands up. "Fine! I'll go but I'm not a scapegoat for either of you. Do you understand?"

Both nodded as they helped her get on Barf behind Ruffnut. Once everyone was settled and comfortable, they left for the old killing ring.

Landing in the ring the twins could clearly see the annoyance on all their friends' faces. It was a good thing that they brought their new friend because Hiccup looked the most upset out of all of them and if there was one thing that you did not want to do as a dragon rider was piss off the leader of them. The twins really did not want to shovel dragon dung because of their lateness.

"Where were you two!" Snotlout shouted.

"We were waiting for you guys all day to show up," Astrid commented just as annoyed as the Jorgenson.

Although just as peeved as everyone else Hiccup did try his best to calm the others. He tried to make up some reasonable explanation for the extreme tardiness, but no one was having it. Even he was not buying what he was trying to sell to the others. What did catch his attention was the excuse that the Thorstons had told them all about helping the new Haddock.

"What do you mean 'the new Haddock'?" Hiccup questioned but soon got his answer when Eira's voice called out from behind Ruffnut. He also watched as Barf try his best to lower his head enough for the passenger to safely get off. That was not the case, rather she looked like a new spring lamb walking for the first time as she tried to hop off. It ended with her just falling on her bottom yelping from the hit. Hiccup immediately went up to her offering a hand. She gratefully took it and as she stood up brushing off the dirt from her dress, Hiccup asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she whispered to him although she was clearly embarrassed by the display of grace she had just performed. She then remembered why it occurred in the first place and turn her frustration towards the twins. "I told you two that I would not be used as a reason for being late. Now tell them the truth."

"The truth?" The siblings said turning to each other then looking at her to see if she was serious. The look she gave made them believe she was.

"Oh, the truth is that… um, bro what is the truth again?"

"How am I supposed to know. Mom always said you had the brains, while I got all the looks." He flipped his dreads back over his shoulder to emphasize his words while smirking. This however led to an argument between the two which no one was pleased with.

It certainly got Astrid more annoyed as she ended the bickering and demanded an answer.

"We forgot okay! Happy!" Ruffnut screamed.

Even Hiccup was not happy with that excuse but at least it was an honest one.

Astrid was the only one to actually voice everyone's opinion at that time, however. "No, no one is happy. We had a strict schedule that we needed to be on to prepare for this training and now we're way behind and have to double or even triple time our speed to get it done. And to top it off you brought someone who isn't even part of the Dragon Academy." She held her hand out pointing towards Eira and sending her a quick glare the poor girl's way.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes at the young warrior's complaint. It wasn't like it was the end of the world but to her friend, she always acted like it. To worsen her opinion on her old friend, Astrid always thought she was better than everyone in the group and it was getting old especially when Hiccup always seemed to allow it. She never understood it. But today, oh today, Ruffnut Thorston had just about enough of the princess warrior's attitude and demands. Ruffnut was about to do something no one in the group dared thought of towards the golden hair blonde. She hopped down from her dragon with ease and marched up to her before yelling. "First of all, no one gives a damn about your schedules or your trainings. They are overbearing and almost impossible to complete. And I for one would like to go home with the ability to move my body afterwards and not feel like I went to Hel and back to do so. Two, I don't know where you get off to think you are better than anyone of us in the group. We are just as capable, if not more so, to do the same things as you can." When Astrid scoffed at the comment Ruffnut was about to punch her in the face. It was only a good thing that Tuffnut was able to see where his sister was going with all this and was able to hold her back enough before having things get physical. That did not mean however that she would keep her mouth shut. "There! Right there! That's the attitude that I am talking about. You think you're so much better than anyone of us yet you can't seem to even make friends with the girl that is five feet behind you! At least all of us have the common decency to become one!"

Astrid was completely shocked by the confrontation that she stuttered out with uncertainty, "I- I'm friends with her."

"Are you Astrid?" It was Hiccup's voice that broke through the fighting and this made everyone quiet and in a bit of shock.

It only made Eira wish she had chosen not to come at all. All she wanted to do was disappear as everyone including her watch Hiccup and Astrid have what seemed to be a very intense staring match.

"I," Astrid started and then took a glance at Eira who only looked at her feet when they made eye contact. All the guilt was hitting her and she knew that she had been putting off the way she was feeling for far too long and now it was all coming to a head like her parents had warned her about. She sighed and then finally told her best friend the truth, "I want to. I do, but it's hard. You guys all know." She scanned around towards her other friends looking for some support and she was happy to see that she was receiving some. At least that's what their faces were telling her. "I-I just want to get back to our training if that's okay," her voice was trying to overcome the wobble in it from her emotions, and thankfully all, including Hiccup, understood.

Hiccup stepped away from his wife and walked over to his best friend. He gave her a sympathetic smile and told her, "Okay, we'll go on a short training flight. Do the training that was planned at a later date. I think we all can agree to that." He saw everyone nod their heads in agreement which made the blonde very grateful as she just turned towards her Nadder to climb on waiting for Hiccup's order.

Everyone else did the same and they took to the air while Hiccup went to check on the only person left on the ground.

"Um, so we're going to be doing a flight session around the island. I would ask you if you wanted to come but-"

"No," Eira cut him off. "It's okay and I understand. I'm just going to head back home if that's okay."

"Of course." He said, "I would give you a lift but again…"

"It's fine, I think I need the walk anyways after everything said."

He nodded, mentally agreeing with that statement considering that he would also need some time to think about everything. Though his would be a longer calming flight instead of a stroll.

It was late in the day when Hiccup arrived back at his home. The flight training was undoubtedly short thanks to what had transpired earlier and the flight with his dragon was even shorter as his father had scooped him up to help with a miscellaneous task around the village. Ones that were clear to Hiccup that Stoick just passed them to his son because he didn't want to do them himself. So that long flight that he needed with Toothless to think about his situation never happen. Instead, he was trudging back through his door mind still racing while also feeling very numb. The only thing that caught his attention was the sight of Eira placing a meal down at his spot at the table and then moving to open a barrel of fish for Toothless, which the dragon happily raced after towards. The dragon's antics made the exhausted rider laugh, which notified his presence to the young girl.

She in turned let out a small giggle when the Night Fury went headfirst into the fish for his meal.

Hiccup took his place at the table and once he was sitting, he didn't realize how much he actually needed to be. He sighed in content as he stirred the food in front of him helping it cool in its bowl. Before he was able to take a bite, he could only chuckle when hearing what she had asked him.

"Long day?"

"Feels like the longest." Again, he sighed. His mentally seemingly catching up to his now physical state of exhaustion. He went to take a bite of food once more, but Eira stopped him.

"How," she started not sure if she should ask the boy her question but decided to anyway since he gave her a look for her to continue or he would forever be curious and not like it drop. "How is Astrid?"

He had to repeat the first half of her question for it to fully register in his brain, "How is- She's fine. She's Astrid. She's," he looked at Eira who now had taken a seat in her usual spot at the table. A big sigh left the auburn hair teen this time as he answered completely now, "She's trying Eira. You just need to understand that all this." He gestured with his hands to both of them, "it's difficult for her. But she does want to be your friend. She just needs time."

Eira nodded trying to understand the circumstances and dynamics of the group in full. It was clear that they all had a tight bond and she could see how her presence now in the group could be shaky for some and not so for others. "I guess having your best friend's attention on someone else could be rough on anyone."

Hiccup was trying to take another bite of his food as she was talking, but what she was telling him made very little sense to him. Did no one tell her what Astrid actually meant to him? What he meant to her? How close the two teens actually were to each other before he was thrown into a marriage? All his own questioning stopped when that spoon full of food finally made it into his mouth making his whole brain be thrown for another loop as his green eyes stared at the bowl. "This isn't from the Great Hall."

She shook her head, "Uh, no. I actually made it. Started it when I got home from the academy. Does it taste okay?"

He took another bite enjoying it. "Yeah, actually it's better then what I could ever make."

She sighed and relaxed when hearing his compliment. His cooking was pretty good when he had time to actually cook, though that was very seldom. A smile grew on her face as she watched him take another bite and she began to copy him with her own meal.

Halfway through the meal, their conversation of what had happened back at the ring was brought up. But this was not about Astrid. Instead, Hiccup began to wonder more about why Eira was even tagging along with the twins in the first place. The answer he got surprised him a little. "Are you serious? You want to learn about dragons?"

Eira shrugged a bit sheepish at her response, "I would like to. I mean I know some things, but defiantly not as much as anyone on Berk. Not as much as Fishlegs either."

"No one knows more than Fishlegs," he chuckled. Then he looked at her having more questions to her sudden interest, "Do you just want to learn more about dragons in general or would you want to know how to train one? Because if you want to train one then you could possibly learn how to fly also."

She was a little uncertain of the offer. She wasn't sure if she really wanted a dragon of her own. Plus, her only experience with being in the air wasn't a lot and she was still very much attached to the ground. "Maybe just knowing more about them. I don't think I am very knowledgeable with any such beast."

Toothless heard her comment and whined out towards her making her laugh.

"Besides you boy," She rephrased and when the big reptile went up to her, she gave him the scratches he deserved. Eira then went on to spoil the lizard by praising him and sneaking him some of the bread that was in her bowl.

Hiccup smiled at them. This was something he enjoyed seeing. His best friend happy and trying to lick the girl that was very delicate with her hands as she petted him and the smile she was beaming when she talked to the ferocious Night Fury like he was a common house cat. The way her nose scrunched up in her smile and how she always kissed the top of Toothless's head before stopping their play.

He was very much enjoying watching her. So much that he only realized he was staring when he noticed that she caught him and began blushing because of it. He shook the daze he was in and went to look at his food instead, as he tried to recover his confidence even though he was now blushing just like Eira was. "I- I am glad this is happening."

"Hm?"

"That you want to learn more about dragons."

"Well," she began, "They do seem like they are a big part of your life and Berk's. It would only make sense that I begin to understand them, right?"

"Yeah, and we will get Fishlegs to help you with that. I'll ask him tomorrow to see when he would like too and try to make sure he starts with the books instead of hands-on at first."

"That would be very much appreciative," she joked taking a few more bites of her own dinner and then the return of them eating their meals began after the conversation was finally dwindling.

Both were enjoying the tranquility of their home and when it was clear that they were both finished Eira began what she believed was her duty as a wife to take away the dishes. Hiccup ended up helping and while they were doing the dishes Eira accidentally splashed him. She looked a bit horrified but Hiccup smirked and flicked a couple of droplets back at her. A smile cracked on her face as she tried to ignore the behavior, but she couldn't and lightly bumped him with her arm shoving him lightly. They joked with each other until it was time for their own nightly rituals to begin. When that was over, they began to go to their rooms, but Eira had stopped the other teen on the stairs.

"Yes, Eira?" he asked looking down at her. He went back down to meet her when she was quiet. "Is something wrong?"

"There is," she took a deep breath. "You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor."

He was taken back by what she had said and even tried to fib his way out of the obvious truth. Knowing she wasn't having any of it he fell on his sword so to speak. "How long have you known?"

She shrugged not wanting to embarrassed him, "A while." She heard him sigh and she asked him, "Why did you not tell me?"

Again, he sighed, "I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"How would I have-"

"Let's be honest we were introduced to each other in a matter of days," he explained, "forced to do things that we weren't comfortable with for the sake of our tribes. Things that," he gulped and blushed as he continued, "we never actually did because of how uncomfortable it was between us." She copied him but he powered through to his point, "I just didn't want to add more awkwardness to it since we were practically strangers."

She understood, but still felt awful about the situation she had put him in. "We have known each other for a while now, correct?" She saw his head nod, "then it's safe to assume that we shouldn't consider strangers to one another. And most things shouldn't be awkward between us because of that."

"I guess," he was still blushing and noticing how incredibly interesting his feet and floorboards were becoming.

"With that being said, can I offer you a place to sleep in a bed tonight, instead of the floor?"

He finally looked at her and told her, "I couldn't possibly kick you out of your bed Eira."

"_Our_ bed Hiccup," the brunet corrected. "And because it's _our_ bed there is plenty of room for both of us. If you are wanting to share it."

Hiccup was silent, trapped in his own thoughts. He was trying to judge Eira's real thoughts on the offer, yet his back was starting to feel the weight of constantly sleeping on the floor upstairs with a Night Fury as a pillow. He looked up at the loft upstairs that was their second room and then at the girl in front of him. She was still waiting for his answer. He took note of how patient she looked with her hands folded in front of her. Her eyes darted towards her feet and he noticed how she was standing the same way when they first met. That is what made him laugh. He tried his best to tell her why but it was defiantly through chuckles upon gut-wrenching chuckles. "Sorry. Sorry," he smiled trying not to make her feel uncomfortable. "It's just," he paused taking in some air and again trying not to continue his laughing fit. "We know each other for how long now?"

"Um, months I believe," she was still confused about his state of mind and his demeanor.

He could only confirm that with a head nod and then managed to speak out, "and look at us. How we are acting towards one another. It's like-like," he started to laugh again unable to complete the sentence.

She took a moment to let her mind wrap around what he was trying to tell her and when it finally dawned on her, she started to laugh too. Both teens were laughing until they couldn't anymore. When they hit that threshold Eira did manage to get both of them back at the question at hand. "So?"

Hiccup sighed, "I don't know." It was an honest answer. "I just don't want to go back to how it was when we first met."

"Neither do I, but I believe it won't." Seeing his questionable gaze, she continued, "There's been enough time between us where we do know each other to the point that we can call one another friends, right?" She looked at him hoping that she was correct in her use of the term for them and when he nodded in agreeance she smiled. "Then why are we making it awkward when it shouldn't be."

Again, it was a question that he could answer a thousand different ways. Starting with the fact that the first time the two were alone together in that room they almost shared the room in a different way than how they were planning to tonight. He tried not to remember that night. Not for the reason that he didn't or wouldn't have enjoyed it, but for the fact that it wasn't on his wife's mind and he seriously doubted he would be able to share the bed with her if she knew that he was growing a bulge in his pants at the thought of her like that again. He shook it from his head and nodded towards her. "You're right. It should not be this difficult for us, so how about I get ready upstairs and meet you there in a few minutes."

She nodded giving him her small gentle smile, which caused him to blush but she didn't notice as she slipped inside the bedroom.

The male teen returned to their bedroom but paused when reaching the door. It was closed and although it was considered both their room, he felt nervous thus the reason why he knocked on the door. Hearing her answered he took a deep breath and then entered. It was a good thing he took a breath because once again it seemed to be knocked out of him when seeing Eira finish twisting her hair into a low braid. Then he took notice of the nightgown she was wearing and it happened to be the same one that she wore on their wedding night. Once more he shook his head trying to keep his darker thoughts away and turn his attention to the bed. "So, um which side should I take?"

"Well, it's a pretty big bed."

"Yeah, I think they forgot that I am not a typical size Viking."

She smiled at his joke and then tied the small leather strap in her hair securing it in its braid. She stood up and walked over to him. "I don't think they remembered that part about me either."

He chuckled but let it slipped out, "That's surprising since it's hard to forget about you." Hiccup then turned to her and saw her rose blush forming on her cheeks. That's when he realized what he said, yet he couldn't take it back and he had no way to cover up the line with a quick-witted response.

Luckily, she brought the subject back to the bed. "Uh I've been sleeping on this side, so maybe the other would be yours. If you're fine with that."

He nodded quickly and hustled over there. "Should be okay. I don't see how it wouldn't." He set up the pillow more to his liking and sat on the edge of the bed. He tried to relax, but stiffen again when he felt the bed shift signaling that his bedmate was getting comfortable on her side. He sighed loud enough for her to hear.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," he answered, but sighed again and he could hear the silent question she was thinking. "No, it's just different is all."

"I could always-"

"No," he didn't let her finish the thought of her going upstairs to sleep on the floor. "I just need to take off my prosthetic is all."

"Oh," she trailed. Then she asked him, "do you need help with it?"

He shook his head, but it was clear she never saw it for he felt her hand lightly touch his shoulder and he looked at her.

Eira called out softly to him, "Hiccup?"

His bright green eyes looked at her and saw that she was genuinely concern for him. One corner of his lip rose slightly showing off his small grin to her. "It's fine. I just never really thought about it but I think the only other person who saw me without it on has been Toothless. Well since it happened at least."

She squeezed his shoulder gently letting him know she was listening and he continued with his train of thoughts.

"I guess I don't want to scare you with it. Does that even make sense?" He looked at her shifting his torso enough so he could do so.

Eira nodded. Though in the small moment her free hand went to her right shoulder and she was lost in her own mind. It was when he called her name did, she snapped out of it and answered his question. "It does, but I promise you I won't be afraid." She moved to a new position of sitting next to him, but she could still tell he was hesitant of completing his nightly ritual in front of her. "I can step outside while you take it off if that makes you more comfortable?"

Sheepishly he nodded, "I think I would feel better with that."

"Okay," she gave him a reassuring smile as she stood up and made her way towards the door. Before slipping out she told him, "Just call me when you're done." The door closed before he could give her an answer.

Hiccup sat there taking deep breathes before he got the courage to take off his foot. He didn't feel much like a Viking at the moment. Afraid to even take off a fake foot in front of his own wife. "Aren't we suppose to share everything together?" he thought bitterly as he stared at his missing appendage. He huffed and started to take deeper breaths as his face started to turn into anger. He wanted to chuck the stupid leg across the room. He honestly didn't know he could feel this way still towards what happened to him. He had thought he had moved on. Thought he was okay with all the obstacles that came with missing a limb. The jokes that others told about only having one shoe or foot or even three-legged races. The pain that came with the sensitive tissue and nerves when it was cold or raining. He had moved past all that.

"So why am I angry?" he thought, gripping onto the sheets and grinding his teeth as he seethed. When he inhaled a bunch of air into his lungs it all finally clicked when the tiniest voice in his head was able to reach him. "Because how could she think of you as a Viking when you are not even whole?" As soon as he processed the thought he wanted to cry. Because that was the real reason why he had sent her away. He didn't want her to think any less of him. And while he had moved on from those thoughts with his friends and tribe, she was someone new who didn't know this side of him and who hasn't convinced him that he was good enough. Again, he wanted to cry and weep at the sight of the metal leg and nonexistent foot. He didn't though because he heard his name being called and he dropped the prosthetic to the ground and scrambled to get the blanket covering his lower half as Eira opened the door.

"Are you okay in here?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he squeaked and rubbed any tears that may have fallen with his sleeve. "You can come in now."

It was just Hiccup's luck, however, that when she did come in, she noticed that his eyes were a bit red and puffy. "Are you sure you are okay?" She asked and sat next to him on the bed.

He nodded afraid to speak but managed to do so. "I'm fine," he repeated. "I'm just a bit tired and think we should go to bed."

"Hiccup," she said softly and wanting to reach out to touch him, but held her arm back. She also held back with what she really wanted to tell him before they did settle in for the night. She chose against it and instead wished him, "Have a goodnight Hiccup."

"You too Eira," he laid down and pulled the blanket over his shoulder while getting comfortable in the bed with his back facing her. "Sweet dreams."

She also laid down under the blanket curling up on her side facing away from him.

The wind had picked up and the harsh cold was carried with it. Many of the villagers were clamoring around hauling previsions towards the Great Hall. Others were dealing with the farm animals and gathering anything they were producing. Then there were some dealing with the dragons that had chosen to stay on the island. The dragon riders being one of the few to help those who needed it the most.

It was hard keeping some of the dragons up in the air with the harsh winds. The only one who didn't seem to have the problem was Fishlegs and Meatlug. Yet, the rest did their best to stay in the air keeping an eye out for those in need. One Night Fury and his rider did spot someone in need of said help. The two laded closer to the person and he smiled at who it was.

"Hey, do you need some help with that?"

The girl huff as she plopped the chest down on the ground. A smile was on her face when hearing his voice and said, "I should be fine it's just," she looked at the distance it was from the Hall and the small amount of the progress she had made from her home and she sighed, "Why is our house so far away from the Hall?"

Hiccup chuckled giving her a reason for the placement of the hut. To solidify it more he gave her a witted remark that he was known for, "It has a great view though."

Eira agreed and nodded catching her breath a bit, though it was hard with the cold settling in more, "that it does, but do you think you and Toothless could deliver our things for me?"

"That won't be a problem at all," he hopped off his dragon and went to grab the chest. When lifting the box, he tried not to appear that it wasn't heavy, but it was clear he was having trouble lifting it. To help him Eira went over to help lift it onto Toothless as he secured it. Once secure he was about to go deliver the package but stopped and asked her, "Do you want a ride there with us?"

She looked over at the now crowded saddle and asked, "Is there enough room to even add another person?"

"For a short trip like this? I'm sure Toothless could handle it." He made sure he was correct with his assumption by asking his friend, "Right, Bud?"

The Night Fury warbled, shifting some of the items on his back so he was comfortable. He then did his best to copy the smile his human always did to reassure everyone there.

Hiccup beamed, "See, he can carry us." He held out his hand to her. He looked just like he did when offering her, her first ride on the reptile.

So, when she took his hand, she repeated the words that he had said to her all those months back, "Safest place is on the back of Toothless right?"

"You bet," he chimed. Unlike their first flight together she was now in the back holding onto his torso while he had more control sitting up front controlling the tailfin. Before taking off he warned her, "Hold on tight." Before she could grasp what, he had said Toothless took off causing the young girl to quickly wrap her arms around Hiccup giving off a yelp as they took to the air and headed towards the Great Hall. Her reaction was one that caused both boys to laugh, though they would never admit that to her.

The flight was not as smooth as her first one and that was evident with how her hair was a mess and how tightly she was keeping her eyes shut and holding onto her husband. She also only took in a deep breath when they landed and she heard Hiccup's words to confirm that they had.

He could only chuckle when he told her in a quiet tone, "You can let go now."

One of her eyes peeked open to double-check and if it wasn't for the small brush of windburn on her cheeks Hiccup would have seen that she was blushing from embarrassment as she slowly let go of him. As she slid off the saddle she mumbled, "I don't think I could endure that again."

He held back laughter but his grin was evident as he said, "Eh, it wasn't that bad. It was actually very tame compared to all the other flights today."

That got her attention and not in a positive way. "Are you sure it's safe to be flying still?"

"It is," he confirmed. "The wind just throws him off a bit with a wingspan like his. Isn't that right Toothless?" He went up to his friend and began to talk to him like an owner would with a puppy which caused the fierce Night Fury to become excited as well, "Your wingspan is only good for speed and not these winds huh?" He petted his head and after a few minutes of play, the rider began to calm his dragon down enough to start unpacking the saddle.

Eira helped and a few other villagers carried a few things that were also items for the families waiting in the Hall. The last thing carried in was Eira and Hiccup's chest which took both of the teens to carry inside. Inside the walls of the Hall, a lot of families had made settle their way in claiming small areas to be bunker down in. Hiccup had directed Eira to an area that seemed out of the way, but was in fact had enough room for not only the two of them but for Toothless as well. He brushed off his hands when they finally set the trunk down. "There we go. I guess we will be calling this home until all of this blows over." He smiled at her.

"Is it truly going to be that bad?"

"According to Bucket's, well, bucket. Yeah, it seems like we're going to be hauled up here for a couple of days," he explained.

"And you really listen to a man with a bucket on his head? Not your elder?"

Hiccup corrected her, "Technically, Gothi listens to the man with the bucket on his head." He heard her laugh and the smile stayed on his face, "But hey so far that bucket has not been wrong. Just feel bad that it causes him so much pain."

She agreed and then looked towards the crowds of villagers. "I guess I shouldn't question it. My…" She paused realizing that she was no longer part of the Southern Sea Walker Tribe, "my old tribe used chicken bones and lizard's feet to predict the weather."

"Odd."

"Yes, I suppose it is. Though I just pay attention to the animals."

"Hm," he said scratching Toothless's chin while holding this conversation. "So what do you notice about the animals now?"

She looked around paying attention to them for a bit before answering. "They seem a tad nervous. Almost like they want to be somewhere safer."

"And what does that usually mean?" the smirk in his voice was as clear as day.

She only copied that tone as she continued, "it means a storm could becoming." She caught his smirk, but made it fall really quick as she said, "or they are picking up on our worry and nerves. Animals tend to sense those things too."

"That's true," he said pondering whether all of this was because his tribe put in too much fate about a bucket on a man's head tightening and claiming weather patterns.

"But I'm sure it's both and it is better safe than sorry."

He smiled and shook off the dread that was slowly starting to flow him, "I believe so. Anyways do you need any help setting up or do you think we are good?"

"Well," she started opening up the chest and explain what she had brought which were just clothing, blankets, and other essential items. "Do you think we need anything else?"

He stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders to peek at the contents as he leaned in close. If he turned to actually face her, he would have seen the blush on her cheeks. Instead, he just nodded and backed away suffice with what he saw. "I think we should be fine." He then caught sight of her attire that she was wearing and frowned. "You may want to grab another dress though."

"Hm?" she followed his line of sight and saw that where the side seam of her dress was there happened to be a large rip. She followed suit and frown also. "It must have snagged on something." Inspecting it she didn't think it was all too bad and would be an easy fix to any of the seamstresses here on Berk. "I'll have someone take a look at it, but I think you are right. In the meantime, I should pick up another dress. Don't need anyone thinking you have an unkempt wife," She laughed lightly at her joke, but apparently, it was not as funny as she thought because Hiccup was not laughing. Usually jokes like that would at least gain a chuckle or two from other teens in her old tribe.

Hiccup didn't see the humor in her words. He didn't care about what others thought of them or thought about her. What he did care about was the way she was talking about herself. Now he was known for talking about himself in that downplay sense but that was when he was known for being the village screw up. When days were so bad with the comments from his fellow Vikings that he was slowly starting to believe them and he would repeat them in his head. However, Eira, the way her voice sounded slightly hurt as she let it fall from her lips, he knew what she was doing. He did it often when he was being sarcastic and act like nothing stung. He was a bit confused with this because to him he didn't know why she would feel like this in the first place. Wasn't she known for being the Jewel of the Southern Sea Walkers? Shouldn't she have more confidence in herself if she was beloved by all her people? That is when it hit him. Maybe Berk wasn't being as kind as they were in her old tribe. He knew that he had to speak to his father about this to see if it was true. It also wouldn't be too far off of a guess since his friends weren't as warm or welcoming to her when she first arrived, so maybe some other

villagers were still the same. "Not that everyone will like her, but they could show some respect towards her," his thoughts circulated. They only stopped when he felt her hand on his arm and she was trying to read his face and get him back. "Huh? What?" he said a bit confused.

"Are you feeling alright?" She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead to check his temperature and with that, his cheeks turn a bright red from a blush. This only made the young girl think the cold was finally getting to him. "Maybe you should stay inside and help? It looks like the cold isn't going to do you any favors."

He could only nod at her command as he tried to calm his racing heart. He didn't think she noticed but with how close she was to him at that moment he could have leaned in and kissed her. She had put her face to his and this was defiantly something he wasn't using too out in the public. Actually, none of what she was doing was something he used to. He used to checking up on himself and handling things by himself for years. It was odd to have somebody worry about you when you so used to have an absentee father, who cared about a village more than his son, and no mother since you were a babe. Everything that Hiccup had done to survive was because of his independence and his own care. This was uncharted waters for him and he needed to get back on the map before he became lost. So, he went to the last known problem he knew of, "Your dress?" When he saw her questioned face he rebounded, "Do you want me to get you a new one that way you can stay here and get everything ready?"

Before she could answer him, both were distracted by a shout out from one of their friends. The shouting mainly for Hiccup to come and help them with another problem that seemed to be occurring. Just as soon as he was about to race to help, he stopped and looked at her. He only paused to see if she would be okay. Eira just waved him to go with a smile knowing that this was more of an important issue than her dress. He could only nod and she watched as her husband and his dragon disappeared into the crowd.

Eira sighed when he was out of sight and then looked down at the giant hole in her clothes that was slowly growing bigger exposing more of her skin to the world. She did her best to hold it closed as she made her way out of the hall and towards the long trek towards her house. She could only sigh when looking at it. It was one of her favorites and she could only hope there was someone on this island that could repair something like this.

Reaching about halfway towards her home did she notice that the wind was picking up rather quickly and she chuckled a bit at the thought that the man with a bucket on his head was indeed right about the brewing storm. She only stopped when she heard someone call her name. Looking at who was landing in front of her she could only assume that it was the young Jorgenson especially when the Monstrous Nightmare was covered in his signature flames.

"What are you doing out here?! The storm is getting closer! Stoick is ordering everyone to the Great Hall!" he yelled through the howling winds.

She was going to explain the situation, but the young teen was not going to have it as he hopped off the dragon determined to hoist her over his shoulder to drag her inside. He was muttering something about Hiccup rubbing off on her, but she couldn't quite make it out due to the wind. When he was about to grab her, she instinctively pulled away. "I'm going. I just need to get something else to wear." Before he could groan about women needing extra clothes, she showed him the hole in her clothing.

Snotlout just rolled his eyes. "Uh something like that is such a trivial fix that I could do it in my sleep."

She was shocked at this, "You can fix this?"

"Yes! Now can we please get on the dragon before I turn into a popsicle out here!" He emphasized it more by showing her Hookfang waiting for them to climb on.

She could only nod and climbed on board the dragon as Snotlout took the reigns and flew them to the safety of their Great Hall.

The Hall doors slammed shut and in strolled Stoick and a few other Villagers and dragons. It had been very clear that the temperature had dropped and the storm had finally settled in with the frost clinging onto their hair and clothes. Eira was shocked to see this and quickly said, "I guess you really don't question the man with the bucket on his head."

Snotlout was busy concentrating on the clothing in his hands that he really didn't catch her statement. Instead, he asked, "How did you even achieve something like this?"

She sighed and tried to think of when the incident could have occurred. "I think it might have happened on a flight on Toothless. Might have gotten caught on his saddle."

He hummed and looked at it again. The Jorgenson was staring at it for a while and it made the female Haddock wonder if her dress was salvageable. It was when he spoke that she thought the worse for her wardrobe. "Stitching like this is not made for riding. Neither are dresses."

She frowned. She was making progress with her dragon studies and it was seeming like her husband and Fishlegs were planning on making the next transition from her schooling, which sounded more and more like riding a dragon. Though she really did like wearing her dresses. A sigh escaped her because she knew what she had to do to fit in on the island and if that meant getting new clothing to do so, well she would just have to live with it. She was about to ask Snotlout where she could start gaining more appropriate riding gear when she heard the longest rip in her dress. Then as she was still in some shock from the action done to her dress, she was spun around so he could do the same thing on the other side. She then shrieked and jump away from him.

"What in Odin's name are you doing!"

He huffed and waved her off, "Relax Mrs. Uptight I made it so you could wear your dresses still. That is if you let me hem the thing before it starts to fray."

Her eyes cast down at her dress to see exactly what the teen did. What she saw was where the seams of the dress were on the sides were completely cut about two maybe three inches away from her hips creating two slits so it was able to move more freely. She still stood there as he fixed what he needed to and made it so that the dress wouldn't rip any further than what he had caused. As he was working a thought popped into her head and she had to ask, "How did you know that I was wearing leggings underneath my dress?"

"Uh," he froze in the middle of his stitch as he tried to think of some way to answer her. All he could come up with was a way to dodge the question. "Let's just pretend you didn't ask me that and say that I just knew."

Her face became bright red as the realization started to set in. She could only nod and hope that he was almost finished. She wasn't sure if she felt comfortable anymore with him being as close as he was. When he was done she gave a small spin and smiled. Then she flashed the smile towards him and said her thanks.

A little flabbergasted by her warmness towards him he tried to brush it off like it was no big deal. He even offered to do the same thing with her other dresses that she had brought with her for the short move.

"You wouldn't mind?"

He shrugged, "Beats working with the dragons in this place. Let me just get some more thread from my mom."

She followed him watching where she was going since the place was now packed with both humans and dragons alike. She could see why he did not want to be involved with handling what the other riders were doing when it came to the anxious dragons.

As they were walking Eira stopped. She was distracted by some commotion that was causing a small scene. She walked up to the small crowd that was forming and peered over the shoulders of her fellow villagers. What she saw was something that could be truly admired when seeing it unfold. Hiccup and Astrid were standing in the middle of the circle trying their best to maintain the distance of two very large dragons from each other and from the people. Eira's eyes went wide at the sight of how the two teens could be so close to the snapping and roaring jaws at the dragons but look so calm and in control. It was almost as if they were in sync with one another. Especially when she gasped at the sight of Hiccup almost getting clawed at by the dragon he was trying to control, but thankfully Astrid seemed to sense this and pulled him out of the way in time while also keeping her dragon at bay. She sighed in relief when seeing that he was alright.

"Typical," was the words that Snotlout used as he rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Eira asked confused.

"You don't see it?" When she shook her head he continued in annoyance, "It's always Berk's perfect couple to save the day. Look at how wonderful and perfect the two of them are as they calm down everyone and everything around them. Makes me sick sometimes."

She flashed glances between the two teens and then to the boy beside her. She then asked "Couple?"

Snotlout's eyes widen a bit realizing the mistake that he may have just caused. He nervously chuckled scratching the back of his neck as he tried to explain. "Uh, yeah. See if it wasn't for you those two would be Berk's most beloved power couple between our clans. They might have been officially dating now if it weren't for-"

"Me," she cut him off with a whisper of her voice as she stared at the two famous teens as they finally managed to get the dragons to pull away from each other. What didn't pull away from each other was the teens who were now in a tight embrace from their victory. She cast her eyes down feeling like she was intruding on a private scene between the two. It was only when Snotlout spoke again did she lookup.

"Hey, he chose to marry you so something in that relationship must have not been so perfect."

Eira flash her friend a smile knowing he was trying his best to make her feel less guilty about the situation she had caused. However, before they continued on their mission to find more thread Eira took one last glance at the two and couldn't help but notice just how big their smiles were with each other and how their hands were lingering on their arms longer than what anyone would consider as them being just friends.

Later that evening she was sitting at one of the benches when she felt a familiar presence beside her. A big smile washed over her as she moved and allowed Toothless's head to rest in her lap. She gently patted his head. His tongue lapped out of the side of his mouth as he enjoyed her touch and calming voice, "Did you have an eventful day today?"

The warble that escaped him made her chuckle, but it was a known fact that whenever the Night Fury was near the rider wasn't far away.

Hiccup watched as Eira continued to scratch and pampered his dragon. He even began to smile at the sight of them but chuckled at how his dragon reacted when he heard her promises of apples for him being a great help in the Hall. He was going to walk up to them but stopped in the middle when he witnessed something he wasn't expecting. What he saw was Eira gently holding the large head of his dragon and then carefully placed the lightest of kisses on the top of his head and then happily give him his reward of an apple. He didn't know why it made him stop fully. What he did know that it was a sight that he was happy to see between them. And if he actually stopped to figure it out he would have also noticed the way his heart picked up the pace and the tint of a blush forming. Seeing Toothless take the apple is what made him shake out of his daze and make his way to them.

"You're going to make him slow again if you keep spoiling him with the apples," he teased.

She laughed and stuck out her tongue teasingly making him suck in a breath of air as she stated, "Well, I thought the great and proud Night Fury deserved a couple of goodies for all his hard work today. What do you think?" Her question was turned to the dragon who whole heartily agreed and thumped his massive tail with excitement when she held up another apple to him.

He happily took it once her palm was offered to him, but while doing so he ended up covering the girl's hand in spit when he licked it.

She shuddered in response holding her hand out and tried to find something to clean it off with. All while Toothless munched away at his treat.

The young male laughed and went to his wife's rescue with a rag. He grabbed her hand gently and started the process of the removal of said Night Fury spit that had trouble washing away.

During the whole process, Eira did her best to hide her blush. She did it even more when she saw how gentle he was being and how concentrated he was getting the clear glue-like substance off. As soon as Hiccup was done, she said a quiet thank you for being able to feel her fingertips again. The blush however was still evident and Hiccup was confused as to why until she looked at him and asked if she could have her hand back. That caused him to blush but he agreed and let go of her hand. Both teens didn't look at one another as they sat there trying to bring a conversation back into play. It made it seem more awkward between the two as they both stumbled over each other's words. This caused their blushes to darken and the Night Fury between them becoming really confused.

Astrid was the one who broke the uneasiness between them as she asked for Hiccup and Toothless's help with another problem that occurred. She practically dragged him away before he could even get out his acceptance of the proposal. Her actions hinting that it was an emergency situation and needed a quick response though it would seem that behind all the urgency Hiccup was happy to go rather than sit with the girl that was left behind.

Eira sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. This one however was different than her previous ones. This one was covering all the confusing information that she had received throughout the day. Particularly center around the man she had married months prior. Looking around the room at the sea of people she wondered how many of them knew about the relationship between Hiccup and Astrid. She also wondered how many held disdained of her for the supposed break up. The guilt completely now getting to her. She groaned and placed her head into her arms, slumped over the table she was currently left at.

That was how one of their friends found her. They came up beside her and was wondering if she was okay. Getting a low groan from her they sighed in relief that she was at least alive. He didn't know how to explain to Hiccup or Stoick that their new family was found dead for some unknown reason. When they sat next to her, he finally was able to ask her, "Is everything alright Eira?"

Another sigh but this one came with a smile towards the person, "I'm doing alright Fishlegs."

"You don't seem it," he said cautiously. "Are you sure?"

Not wanting to tell him what was truly bothering her she simply said, "Just a few things on my mind is all."

"Anything I could help with?"

She was going to decline but paused for a second before declaring, "I actually think there is." Both shared a smile and she soon divulged how the other teen could help her and the problem that she was facing.

Hiccup came home for lunch today and was hoping to see a welcoming sight of a friend. Instead, he was greeted by a dimming lit house and a damp coolness in the air. The low whining sound that Toothless had made was exactly how the teen was feeling. Though he was hopeful he did check around the small hut for any signs of the girl that lived there with him. Coming up empty-handed he frowned. This was not the only time that this had to happen over the past weeks. If he had to count this seemed to be at least the fourth time in the week alone. It wasn't that he was upset that she was gone. In fact, it was the opposite. He rather enjoyed knowing that she was exploring more and not cooped up in the house all day. He was more concerned with the fact that she didn't want to share exactly what she was doing on her explorations. Then again, he wasn't sure if that was even his place to know what she did in her spare time. Yes, they were married but it was clear to both of them that there was still a line in the sand between the two when it came to the situation, they had put one another in. All Hiccup could do was hope that what was growing between them wasn't resentment because he certainly did not see it that way. If he was honest with himself and with anyone else, he would start to admit that he was enjoying coming home and not being alone. He so used to it being the case when his father was Chief. The house always dark and cold and he had the task of warming it up for his father's sake. However, now that Eira had entered his life, although unexpected and rushed, seeing her smile at him as he enters the doorway was part of the warmth he was starting to enjoy. He would also have to admit that when she did flash him that smile it made him feel his heart flutter a smidge. That was something he wasn't fully accepted as of yet. For while he was flustered at the beginning of their arrangement this feeling was something different. Something that he had only felt once and he wasn't sure how to handle it and he defiantly wasn't sure if it was right.

Overall, Hiccup ended up feeling more and more concerned every day when he came home and she was gone. He was so concerned he sighed at the sight of his empty house. Well, not totally empty as he looked around and saw that his dragon was trying his best to sneak his way into the basket of fruit that was on the table. Hiccup quickly jumped into action defending the apples and the human's healthy snack. After he lectured Toothless on his eating habits he set the food down and gained an idea of what he could do in the meantime of waiting for the female companion. Swiftly he began the work on repaying the favor that Eira usually had been doing for them.

When complete he put his hands on his hips and gave a confident nod and smile as he looked at the small lunch spread, he had set up for them.

"Not too shabby huh Bud?" he asked his best friend.

All the dragon did was roll his eyes and made his way to the loft where his metal slab of a bed laid. It was all he could do since he wasn't going to be getting the treat he wanted after all.

Hiccup shook his head but let his friend go in peace. He turned his attention back to the food and smiled, "Now all I have to do is wait."

And wait he did. Hiccup waited and waited until his lovely gestured of food for lunch was now a cold meal for dinner. He went to check on it again trying his best to keep the food as warm as possible, but it was becoming a losing battle. It made the boy sigh and think to himself, "Is this how she feels every day when I am not around?" He kept checking the front door whenever he heard a creek, but it always turned up to be Toothless who was moving about upstairs due to his own boredom of sitting inside. It was when Hiccup started to drift into daydreams did, he realize why Eira was finally out and about so late now. It was boring sitting inside this home he would jump at the chance to do anything else besides waiting on someone to come home. He would even shovel dragon dung if it meant time would go by faster. With that being realized he decided that a flight would be acceptable for passing the time and the large Night Fury had no complaints when the idea was brought to his attention.

After the flight, that took way longer than Hiccup wanted, but secretly needed after the constant hope that Eira was walking through the door, the two boys were finally back home. When entering the felt the small warmth of the fire pit melt the cold from his skin. This was odd to him because he could have sworn that he docile the flames before leaving. He only confirmed that he was correct in his assumption of putting out the fire when he saw the woman that he was waiting for all afternoon sitting at the table. She was slowly picking at the meal he had left for them. She was also reading what looked like parchment paper in her hands. She was so enthralled with the article that she never noticed him slip into the room until Toothless bumped into her.

Her smile seemed to light up the room as she greeted the reptile, but when she looked up at the rider that smiled somehow made it felt like his cheeks were on fire. Hiccup did his best to not let it phase him, but his words were a tad stuttery when he heard her ask,

"Another long day?"

"No, not really. Just getting back from a leisurely flight." When she acknowledged what he had said Eira went back to the food she was munching on and the paper in her hands. Hiccup sat in his normal spot at the head of their table gearing up to eat the presumably cold food. Before taking his own bite of it he asked her, "Are you enjoying the meal?" She didn't answer her mind too focused on the paper once more. So, again he asked her, "Eira."

"Hm?" She didn't look up as she continued to read.

"Are you enjoying the meal I prepared?"

That caused her to stop and look at the table and what she was eating. It was not the food she had gathered for breakfast.

The confusion on her face could have made Hiccup laugh but he held it in and smirked. "I came home early today and made lunch, though now I guess it would be considered dinner."

"I am so sorry," she replied. "I really should have noticed."

He shrugged it off not trying to make it a big deal. However, when she complimented him on it and showed her gratitude towards his hard work his cheeks became a little pinker and his words a bit shakier. "It's the least I could do for you. I mean since you do this a lot for me."

Her smile continued as she looked at him, yet after a while, she went back to look at the paper she carried causing the young man to become curious again.

His curiosity became so large that he could not help but ask her about them since they didn't look like any dragon notes that he had seen. "Say, those don't look like Bork's or Fishlegs notes about dragons." When he tried to get more of a glance of them it caught him by surprise when she shuffled them away keeping him still in the dark.

She did, however, gave him an answer, but nothing to satisfy his wondering. "That's because they aren't. They are something different." She then stood up and began to straighten up the pages that she had left scattered across thinking that Hiccup needed more room at the table.

"Then what are they?" Clearly, curiosity was going to be the death of him one day as he pushed his questions on her.

This only caused Eira to sigh. She didn't want to lie to him, but she also didn't want him to know what she was doing either. Instead, she told him something that was in between the two. "They are notes on Berk. Well, more specifically it's history and laws."

"Why are you reading up on that? I am sure if there was something that you needed or wanted to know you could ask my father or even Gobber. They wouldn't lie to you."

She smiled and knew he was right but that was not the point of her searching through the old papers and becoming frustrated with the ones that ended missing or even half singed from a fire. "True, but there are things that not everyone knows that happen within your tribe's history." Seeing his eyebrow raised in question meant she was going to have to dive in further in what she had already found. "For instance," she shuffled through some of the papers to find the evidence that we're going to support her statement. "The late Chief Lutz right here is the reason why Berk has a rule that the healer cannot be the head of the tribe. However, it doesn't mean he cannot marry the village healer as long as they are married before their training has been completed and not sworn their sacred oath to the Gods."

"That seems like an odd rule. Why is that?"

"Not too sure on the details," she explained, "but it seemed it may have to do with hold ailments and cures to a villager who did not agree with the Chief."

Hiccup was in shock, "That's horrible!"

She agreed, "It is, but finding things like this out is the reason why I am reading all these old pieces of parchment and smeared wording."

"I guess I can understand," he said not really understanding.

She sighed smiling at the fact that he was trying, "Well, you are the son of the Chief are you not?"

He nodded.

"So, you had to brush up on these old papers and books too, right?"

"To be honest," he started, "No. I think it may have to do with my standing in the tribe at the time." His voice was a little defeated when mentioning it and although it was a quick mention at the time the conversation now was leading to the question that was brought up on the first day that the two had met. His eyes cast down as he mindlessly moved the food on his plate around.

"Hiccup," Eira said softly feeling guilty that she was the one who brought up the topic, even though she didn't mean it.

"I mean I guess it is what you get for being a hiccup and one of the worse Vikings Berk has ever seen. I don't think my dad ever thought I would be the leader of the tribe. Also probably why he never bothered to have me read any of this," he gestured to all the materials on the table, but as soon as he started to be down on himself because of the past he then started to turn it around slightly, "but I guess I never really asked either. Before Toothless I was just so focused on being Gobber's apprentice and making a name for myself that I never bothered to worry about being next in line. I honestly only thought about how I could get a date." As soon as the words fell out and it registered what was said his cheeks turned a bright red and so did Eira's. "What I mean is that um… Oh, Thor…"

"It's okay," she mumbled, "Before you, I had the same thoughts as well."

"Oh?" he was surprised at that. Eira didn't seem like the type who would have trouble getting a guy to notice her. Or gone on a few dates herself, but then again, she did say that he was the one to share her first kiss. With those thoughts in mind, his cheeks became red as he watched her waiting for a response.

She could only nod her cheeks feeling hotter now that the spotlight was on her.

"Do- do you mind if I ask who?"

"No one in particular," she said. "Just imagined it with someone nice, kind of like you."

Now his ears felt like they were on fire, "R-really? You think I'm nice?"

Again, she nodded, and Hiccup pressed his luck by asking if there was anything else, which caused him to back down when she shot him a quick glance clearly embarrassed that she was saying any of this.

"Never mind," he recovered and after a bit of more awkward silence, he brought it back to the topic that started it all. "So, I guess you would be right. Seems that it is wise that you learn more about your new home that way nothing sneaks up on you that gets you thrown in jail or eaten." He chuckled a bit at the awkward joke. Eira didn't however, she only gave a small smile and a slight nod towards him.

"Yeah, I guess that's what I am trying to avoid."

"You know," he started, "we actually wouldn't do that to you. I mean the law that you stated I doubt anyone even knows and there are most likely hundreds more out there. Some of them probably even wrong because of the changes that happen in the last year."

"Like with the dragons?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean we don't kill them on sight anymore." He looked towards Toothless with a grin, "Do we bud?"

Toothless just warbled and made his way to his rider who immediately scratch his scales.

Eira smiled at the two and then looked down at the paper she was holding. If Berk's laws were changing, and changing fast from the looks of it, what else might have been changed that no one else knows about. With that in mind, Eira was more determined to find the answer she was looking for within the smudge words and fragile scrolls.

It was getting late and their dinner was already finished, and the dining ware was already put away waiting to be used all over again tomorrow. Though one thing had not changed. Eira. Eira was still at the table with even more materials spread all over the place intensely reading every word and letter that she could. Hiccup was a little bit concerned and before he went to bed himself, he went to check up on her. He placed a hand on her shoulder as he stood behind her. He apologized when she jumped from the touch. "I know it's going to hypocritical that I tell you this but it's getting pretty late, are you sure you don't want to go to bed and start fresh tomorrow?"

She tried to hold back the yawn she had as soon as he said the word 'late' but managed to shake her head. She was about to tell him she wanted to continue what she was reading but he cut her off almost convincing her to change her mind.

"I am sure whatever it is that you are looking for will be there tomorrow."

"I'm fine," she countered, "I will be in as soon as I finish this one page."

He gave her a look of not believing her because he knew exactly what that meant.

She flashed him a smile and convinced him however while also saying, "I promise."

"Okay," he adamantly said, and it could have been because he was tired of the conversation, they had earlier about one another. Maybe it was both but, at that moment, he had a strong urge to kiss the top of her head and hold her close. He didn't. Instead, he lightly squeezed her shoulder before wafting towards the bedroom leaving her in peace.

He turned over in bed noticing the wick of the candle was incredibly smaller and the room was barely a glow. At least it was enough to light the room for him to notice his bedmate finally joining him. He sighed mentally happily that it didn't seem too late for her to get at last a decent amount of sleep.

What he wasn't expecting was Eira sluggishly start to unrobe. Clearly, her focus was not on Hiccup, who was in shock and couldn't look away as her apron dress fell and pooled at her feet and then another layer of her clothing join and then another until she was standing in just her undergarments. The last thing she did was undo her hair and began to brush it to weed out the tangles that were hidden in the strands. It didn't matter how dim the room was for Hiccup could clearly see everything that the girl was doing and if he wasn't so captivated with her, the song she was lightly humming would have defiantly put him to sleep. But he was and he was staring and if she knew that he was he could assume that she would have shrieked and hit him with the brush she was using. Once she was done with her hair, she began to braid it, and when that was finished a deep red blush covered Hiccup's face. Eira was undoing her bindings in the full frontal view of Hiccup's eyes making the confirmation that she thought that he was dead asleep. As he watched her put on her nighttime attire, there was no denying that he was attracted to her as certain urges made his presents known and he was only thankful that the blanket he had covered his boner.

Poor Hiccup laid on his side of the bed trying with all his might to will his cock down as the sleeping girl beside him had no clue what she had just caused. Sadly, it was not going away and after a few moments of lying next to his sleeping wife, he couldn't take it anymore. He carefully got up and grabbed one of the candles off the nightstand and headed upstairs to the loft. He had been trying his hardest not to feel this way towards her. He didn't want to sink to the level of some men who harshly spoke crude things about what they do with their own wives. He just wanted to continue the friendship that they have been building through the months they were together and if she knew that he was having this reaction towards her it would no doubt crack the bridge they were trying to form. Yet getting rid of the image of her naked was not going to go away. It probably never will, but he had to at least settle this urge so it wouldn't be so problematic.

With that in mind, Hiccup began to strip and allow that part of his brain to relive the scene of his wife running her hands down her skin as she peeled away her clothing. The cold air hit him doing nothing to slow down his imagination as he flashed in between her undressing and what had occurred during their wedding night. Feeling her skin for that moment while he seemed to be both stiff and clumsy at the same time. Right now, his hand was none of those as it skillfully works its way up and down his shaft and soon, he was biting his lip trying to hold back his moan as he came into his hand.

Once his head was clear and he saw the mess he had made Hiccup couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted with himself. He didn't want to think of her in that way nor did he want her to find out that he did but how could he not. If Hiccup had to admit it, he would defiantly say that he was lucky that he ended up with someone like Eira. She was beautiful something Hiccup wasn't entirely used to experiencing when someone like her talked to him or even look in his direction. Kind to everyone even towards the dragons who were a bit testy towards her and others. She held herself well despite her still getting used to the customs and traditions of Berk. Then there was how she treated him. Countless times she could have scoffed at him or made a remark or four, but she never did. Instead, she was understanding or willing to be at least.

He smiled when walking through the door of the bedroom despite being exhausted. Eira was sound asleep and when he walked up to her, she had a calm look upon her face. He carefully pulled the fur blanket up on her shoulders and brushed the hair that fell in front of her face out of the way. Without realizing what he was doing he leaned down and kissed her temple softly. When he pulled away, he walked over to his side of the bed and slipped under the covers immediately falling asleep once his head hit his pillow.

Regardless of what had happened between the young couple that night their routines seem to be the same. Longer days away from each other and if they were lucky, they would catch each other going to bed or just waking up. It made the young Haddock wonder if his wife was really alright despite her reassurances that she gave him. Despite the reassurances that his friends were giving him about seeing her around the village. The twins giving him more encouragement by saying that she was hanging out with them even. That didn't seem to calm by any of his standards, but he couldn't say much as long as she was happy and getting along with everyone. Everyone except for one person. That one person did however give him a distraction for his worriment.

Astrid had invited him to go to Dragon Island to set up and test run a new drill for the dragon riders. It was another chance to practice finding their dragons in a harsher colder environment, at least before the final freeze were to set in and it would be impossible to send for help if they really needed it from Berk. Setting up the training grounds would take a couple of days, three at the very latest. The training itself would be a week or so depending on how well the others did. During this time Hiccup could only hope it was enough time for Eira to finish her own mission. He really did miss hanging out with her.

He sighed as he packed another item in his satchel. He wanted to explain to her what was going on before he left with the Hofferson girl. He didn't want her to worry or think that he was completely avoiding her by rushing off on his dragon towards another island. Looking around the home, however, he wondered if she was the one doing the actual avoiding. That was quickly pushed away as she came through the door.

"Welcome home," he smiled at her, "And here I thought you would miss my big send-off."

The joke confused her, allowing him to explain.

"Astrid and I are setting up some training courses over on Dragon Island."

"Oh, you two are leaving today," she stated still a bit confused. "I thought that was tomorrow. I could have sworn Astrid said something about it being tomorrow."

Now that puzzled him, "Astrid told you that we were leaving? You've been speaking _Astrid?"_ he emphasized the girl's name so that he was at least clear that he had heard right. "Since when did you two… "he gestured with his hands trying to fill in the gaps of his phrasing.

She bobbed her head slowly trying to figure out how upset he was at this development. "Uh, yes. I have been talking to Astrid Hofferson, but only because she couldn't find you and I was supposed to relay the message of the training to you. Seems though she was able to catch you before I could, so there was no need to inform you."

"But you two talked to each other? Like had a conversation? Words?"

She wanted to laugh at his astonishment antics and it ended up a chuckle escaping her. She did however answer his question with a solid nod.

His face was beaming at the news. "This is great!"

"It is?"

"Yes," Hiccup laughed out. "I mean it's a great start and way better than you two trying to avoid one another at least."

Eira agreed trying to hide the nerves that were settling in. "It is something alright. Hopefully, it continues when you two come back."

"Oh, I am sure it will," he was grinning from ear to ear with this news and was now more than ever excited to be going on this trip with Astrid. He could properly say his thanks towards her by finally giving Eira a chance. He hated that one of his closest friends wasn't supportive of his decision on marrying the girl standing in front of him. Now though he had a new hope that the two of them would become fast friends, even though he completely missed the change in Eira's voice.

Now Eira was helping pack a few miscellaneous things that she thought Hiccup could use in his stay out in the wilderness. The one item that they had a small chuckle over was trying to fold a piece of fabric that Hiccup would use as part of his tent. The reason for their merriment, every time the two of them would brush their fingers together they would end up dropping the fabric making them keep trying to complete the simple task. She chuckled again, "Guess we have slippery fingers today."

"Eel fingers are what my father would call them," Hiccup laughed as they finally were able to get the cloth folded and he was putting it away in a saddlebag.

She hummed and watched him. When he turned around, she asked, "Do you think you need anything else?"

He paused giving it some thought and mentally went over everything he had packed away. Shaking his head, he flashed another grin towards her. "I think we have everything. You ready to go Bud?" He turned to the Night Fury who was now wagging his at the mention of taking flight.

The young couple wished each other a farewell and off the two boys went towards Astrid's house and then soon to Dragon Island the small group becoming small specks in the skies. This left Eira standing at the threshold of her house sighing at the scene. She slowly slipping inside and looking around the small home. She was trying to keep some hope that things wouldn't be too different when he returned. "At least he won't feel trapped anymore," was her last thought as she made her way towards the bedroom to lay in her bed trying her best not to cry.

The two riders and their dragons quickly set up a small base camp just along the mountainside. When all was settled Astrid came up with a game plan on how they should be setting up their training course. Hiccup completely going along with it, still ecstatic over the fact that his friend was finally warming up to the girl he married. He honestly thought it would never happen. Not with the way Astrid seemed to hold some resentment to his choices and the girl herself. "It's not like Eira had an option in the matter," he thought but quickly brushed it away changing his mindset to something more positive, like how he didn't have to choose where to spend his time anymore between the two girls.

Before the night settled its way in however the two riders thought getting a small flight in would be something good for their dragons. As they were flying Astrid started up a conversation between them. "It's nice to get some quality time together again, huh?"

Hiccup smiled, "it is. It's been hard with everything my father is putting me through with his training and then keeping up with the academy. Then there's helping out Gobber in his shop. Keeping the twins inline is a task in itself. And then there's-"

He was cut off by Astrid, "I get it Hiccup. You've been busy. I know what it's like to have a lot of responsibilities, remember?"

He nodded becoming quiet towards her. The silence between them was a tad awkward but his mind wandered towards the color of the clouds in the sky and it helped him remember the day he took Eira on a flight with him and Toothless. A smile crossed his face as he asked Astrid, "Do you know what this reminds me of?"

A smile formed on her face as her own memory flooded her head. "Yeah," she said whisk fully, "Reminds me of our first flight together."

The male teen blinked not connected to that memory at all, even though that day was wonderful at the time, it was not at all what he was thinking. "I was more thinking of the time Eira and I took a flight together."

"Oh," she said sourly, "your wife."

Hiccup didn't hear that though as he continued, "yeah, the clouds were slowly turning into rain clouds covering everything below us. The sun slowly creeping lower and lower until it disappeared leaving a sea of pink and orange. She was mesmerized by the entire thing that I don't think she was even thinking about her own safety."

"She trusted you," The other rider said trying to wrap her brain around that conclusion.

"Yeah," he said joyfully, "I guess she did. Which is weird since it was the day before we were married that she took that flight. We barely knew each other."

Astrid was extremely surprised by that bit of information because it took her years of knowing Hiccup to even trust him to be in the killing ring with her and it took the threat of being dropped at the top of a tree for her to even consider riding on the back of a dragon let alone with Hiccup. She didn't have time to respond to him when he told her.

"You know it means a lot to me that you are giving her a chance. She was telling me you two were actually on speaking terms."

"Uh, yeah… you could say that" she was not very focused on what exactly he was saying, but she was picking up on how cheerful his words were becoming when speaking about the girl that showed up in their lives. All this was making her waiver on her decision of the real reason she had brought the boy out here. She took a glance at him and saw the smile that she adored, but deep down she knew she wasn't the one who was bringing it to the surface. It made her sigh.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Oh, yeah everything's great. I just think Stormfly is getting a little tired from flying against the wind current is all."

That raised an eyebrow for him, but he didn't argue, and both decided to land for the night.

At their small camp the blonde was sitting around the fire pit keeping a watchful eye on the fish that was roasting. She was also watching the other teen taking care of the two dragons. The warrior smiled watching him as he played with the Night Fury and the Deadly Nadder. She even chuckled and shook her head a bit when the two reptiles managed to get him on his back attacking him with licks and nuzzles.

Hiccup managed to break free of the fearsome duo and their assault. He was out of breath and slightly disgusted with how much spit he was covered in. A groan escaped him as he knew he had to get cleaned in the freezing waters of the nearby river. He was regretting the idea of training in one of their coldest months. That and he glared at his dragon who seemed to be laughing at his predicament. "Hahaha. Laugh it up Toothless or else you'll be the one in the stream instead of me." That kept the dragon quiet, for now. He then turned to Astrid stating his plan of washing up. "I'm going to head towards the river to clean this off me. Thor knows Eira won't be too happy trying to get dried Night Fury spit out again. Do you want me to fill up the canteens?"

"Sure, mine should be in my pack if you want to grab it," she confirmed his request.

Hiccup walked up to her bag that she had brought and begun his search for the item. While he was searching something fell out. The only reason he realized it was because it made a small clang against his metal foot and it now rested near there. His green eyes became confused as he picked it up and inspected it.

The object. A small gold ring. Not just any ring either. No, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third knew this ring very well. It was a ring that he himself worked hard forging and carving. He also knew who the ring belonged to for he had the same knot design carved into his.

"Astrid," he started the question off slowly as he turned to the girl. When he heard her acknowledge him, he looked at her his confusion and angry slowly overpowering his happy demeanor. "Why do you have Eira's wedding band?"

Her blue eyes widen in shock and fear. Hiccup wasn't supposed to know that she had that yet. At least that was the plan bringing him out here, but even now she was contemplating on even going through with it. However, she was put on the spot with his question and she knew that she had to answer it carefully. The only thing she could tell him was, "I found it."

His face contorted to disbelief and his jaw slightly gaped until he asked slowly, "You found it? The ring she hasn't taken off since I placed it on her. You happen to find it?"

She nodded not able to look at him as she lied.

It was a clear indicator for the young Viking, and he was getting annoyed, yet he still wanted to give his friend the benefit of the doubt. So, he prodded her, "Where did you find it at? When did you happen to come in possession of it?"

Astrid stayed silent letting that convey the truth to Hiccup.

"Astrid," he said, "I know you didn't find her ring, so I am asking again. Why do you have Eira's wedding ring?"

Once more silence was falling onto the Hoffereson's lips as she had no answers that would help her get out of his interrogation or anything that would help her undo him discovering the gold piece of jewelry.

Hiccup was not waiting and the more the time ticked by the more agitated he was becoming. "Why do you have her ring, Astrid?!"

She flinched and swallowed a lump in her throat that was forming as she finally admitted, "She gave it to me."

"Why would she do that?" When there was no response again, he shouted, "Why Astrid!"

"So, we could be together!" She yelled causing him and the dragons to be taken back by her outburst. That is until Hiccup registered what she had said to him.

"So, we could…" the words trailed until he asked, "What are you talking about? I'm married. How are we supposed to be together?" He was shaking his head slowly and blinking as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening. He then looked at her trying to make it clear to her his next point, "I made a vow to her Astrid, a promise to the Gods, our tribes, even our fathers that I would be her husband. How do you think we could be together after all that?" He paused for a brief moment to let her understand how crazy she was sounding. Yet, at that moment he remembered that the two girls were now speaking to one another. "Wait a second. Did- did you convince her that we should be together?"

"What?" Astrid asked in disbelief that he would even fathom that she would do such a thing. "No! I didn't convince her of anything!"

"Yeah, right." Hiccup was clearly not persuaded. "Is that why you were trying to be friends with her lately."

"I wasn't trying to be friends with anyone. If anything, she was the one to come up to me."

"Now why would she do that?"

"Because you're not happy!"

He blinked completely taken by surprise by her statement.

Astrid sighed, "You're are not happy Hiccup. Everything you have been through these past months. It's clear that you are not happy. You shouldn't have been forced into choosing to marry a stranger just to _save_ her. Why did you have to be a hero? Her hero? You should have been happy with what you had. What _we_ had. But no, you decided to sacrifice your life and just be completely miserable in an arranged marriage." She took a breath then continued, "Now though I have away, so you don't have to be tied down to anyone."

It was his time to be confused, yet he couldn't ask or say anything as Astrid kept up her rant.

"You can tell the Chief, Gothi, and the council that she's not performing her duties as a wife towards you. It would force them to decide that you need to find another wife who is up for that task and if she can then you can decide to have her as your wife instead."

"Wait," he said, "What task? And what duties are you talking about? How does this-"

She once again cut him off before he could finish, "Giving you an heir. If a wife is unable to conceive an heir for their husband within the first few months of their marriage, then that husband is allowed to look for another one to achieve the goal of having an offspring. If the other woman can have his child, then the husband can relinquish his current wife and married the other instead. Especially if the husband is the leader of their tribe or future leader."

"H-how do you know this?"

"I," she paused, "I just do," she said firmly. "Now are you going to take this opportunity and finally do what is right and be happy again?"

He stared at her. Really looked at her trying to make sure he had heard correctly and understood everything that was said. He just couldn't believe what she was saying. When it was sinking in his anger was starting to pick up. "Do what is right? Be happy again?"

She nodded.

His next words were like a frozen river towards her, "I thought I already did what was right, and since when did you ever care about me being happy. How do you even know if I am happy or not? Did you even bother asking if I was?" Before she could answer he snapped, "No. Of course, you didn't. No one ever does. All of you seem to think the same way 'Poor Hiccup never doing anything right. Never where he should be. How could he ever be happy being such a screw-up?'"

"I never said that you were a-"

"You didn't have to! You clearly implied it by dragging me out here thinking I needed to fix _my_ mistake. Oh, sorry I meant to say _my_ marriage." He tried to collect himself when Toothless came up to him clearly sensing his distress. Instinctively, Hiccup scratched under the dragon's chin. He couldn't look at the girl when he asked, "Do you really think I would just leave her Astrid? I mean I gave you a chance to change my mind at the cove. Now, just because you are not happy with how things are turning out for you-"

"I am happy with the way things are going for me," She interjected. "I am training for the Berk Guard and helping lead the Academy. I am one of the best tactical warriors on Berk and have a great future ahead of me according to the Chief and head of the Guard. Just because I didn't accept your proposal doesn't mean I am miserable." Both teens were glaring at each other. Neither seeing the others' point during this disagreement. "I was just trying to help you get out of a marriage that was making you unhappy."

"News flash," he said, "My marriage isn't as unpleasant as everyone thinks."

The blonde huffed, "If that is the case then maybe you should ask _your wife _what she thinks. This was her idea after all."

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Getting us alone. The ring. All of this was her idea for us to talk, not mine. So, forgive me if I just thought that you wanted things to go back to normal and actually, decide what you want in your life instead of having it pushed upon you."

Hiccup stood there in silence. He didn't have the words to express what he was feeling right now. Let alone he was still processing everything that was brought to the surface. He just shook his head and walked over to his bags and started to pack them.

Astrid not knowing what her friend was thinking asked, "What are you doing?"

He said nothing as he walked his things over to Toothless and began to strap them on his saddle.

"Hiccup?"

"I'm going home," his voice was calm but held an icy tone to it and it was clear to the other rider that she should not try to stop him.

Eira sat there at the dinner table. A long sigh left her as she idly touched the spot where her wedding band should have been. She thought the four days waiting for her wedding were nerve-racking, but sitting there waiting for Hiccup to return home was far worse. She didn't even know if she would have a husband when he returned, but that wasn't what was important. What was important was giving someone a chance to be happy again. A chance to keep a friend rather than lose one by keeping them chained to something that was a split decision. She just hoped that the feeling of the empty spot on her finger would go away soon.

"Maybe when they return this would go away," she hoped but taking a glance at her left hand a part of her also hoped that Astrid would not go through with the plan she had made.

She took out the small journal that Hiccup gave her and took a moment to write down exactly how she was feeling, even though she didn't understand it herself. The one thing she did figure out while living on Berk was writing small letters whether to her father or herself it turned out to be a great help with the drastic change in her life. She sighed once more when finish jotting down her thoughts and closed her notebook. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up towards the ceiling. She counted to ten and took slow deep breaths as she tried to figure out why she was on the verge of tears.

When she felt like she was in control of her emotions she stood up and headed towards what she could only hope to still be her bedroom when the two riders did come back to the village. A loud thud from the roof stopped her in her tracks. She recognized that sound from anywhere but she was mildly confused by it. Her confusion furthered when she heard the front door open and caught the sight of the teen that plagued her thoughts over the last couple of days. She called out his name almost in a state of numbness, "Hiccup? What are you-"

She was cut off when all he could respond with was a short harsh gruff. The first thing he did when entering the house was tossed whatever he had brought on the trip onto the floor in another loud thud. He didn't look at her, he barely acknowledges her. In fact, he didn't even know if he wanted to be in the same house as her at the moment. More of an indicator of his foul mood was how Toothless was reacting to his own rider.

"You're home early," she softly said hoping to have a delicate tone towards him.

"Were you expecting that I wouldn't be," his voice was the opposite of hers. When he finally did look at her, his green eyes that always were bright and joyous held no shine and no warmth in them. Instead, he seemed defeated and almost pissed as he waited for her response.

The girl was of course was stuttering a little. She wasn't sure how to handle his aggressiveness, but she managed. "I thought the two of you would have taken longer and," she trailed off falling under the pressure of him looking the way he did at her. Her eyes cast down as she fiddle with the hem of her sleeves as she held her hands in front of her. The silence grew more uncomfortable and she could feel his eyes burrowing into her waiting for her to finish the sentence towards him. She couldn't, but she instead asked him a question. One that had been plaguing her mind for days. "Did you at least have a chance to talk to Astrid?"

Hiccup reached into his pocket and practically threw the small centrically gold ring on the table.

The sound it made as it hit the wood made Eira cringe as it sounded worse than him slamming his bags down or even a Night Fury landing on the roof. When the ring finally settled down she took a look at it and instinctively reach for it. However, she froze when he spoke.

"You mean about this?"

She didn't have an answer as she stayed in the same position reaching for the ring and staring at it. Fixated on the small piece of jewelry since it was better than looking at the man across the room.

Hiccup looked at her wondering what was going through her head, but then he took his own glance at the ring and he began to get upset again. His face slowly showing anger as his breathing became heavier and heavier. He tried to control himself and he was doing a decent job despite the situation, but the fact that the girl across from him seemed to be calm and unresponsive to what was happening was stoking the fire in him. "Eira."

Her blue eyes flickered up at him and that's when she returned to her standing position. One that she greeted him with when they first met. And just like that day on the docks she didn't say a word until someone else spoke and the only other person to speak was Hiccup.

"Why would you give this to Astrid?" he asked, yet she did not have an answer at least not one right away as he had hoped. It only fueled his anger as he shouted, "Why would you give her the ring I made for you Eira! Why!?"

The young girl took a breath as she tried not to show the water brimming in her eyes especially when receiving the newest bit of information of who actually made the ring that she wore. When she did speak it was an answer that Hiccup was hearing a lot of lately. "I thought you would be happy."

"Happy? How do you-"

She sighed which interrupted his questions. "I have seen the way you two are together. How you and Astrid act towards one another. The whispers and comments from the village about you two. How," she paused she didn't want to say how she ruined their chances with each other. For some reason, it was a harsh reality that she didn't want to be the cause of. "I just wanted to give something back to you that you clearly lost. Something that everyone knows that you should have."

He stared at her wondering if she was serious. Concluding that she was he started to chuckle in disbelief. He chuckled as if he finally understood the joke that everyone knew weeks ago, but he only did this because the words were caught in a swirling vortex in his head unable to come together. Finally, only one word left his lips and it came out as a question towards her. "Happy, huh?"

Eira could only nod. She was afraid of how her own voice would sound towards him after witnessing the display he performed.

"Do you know how many people want me to be _happy_? How many people tell me how I should be _happy_?" He chuckled again but did not give her a chance to respond to his question as he began his rant. "Which is ironic by the way because no one could have cared less about me a year ago. Oh yeah, no one took a glance at me until I shot down Toothless and we killed a mountain of a dragon saving everyone on Berk. Do you even know what they said to me if they even saw me outside of my house before any of that?"

Again she could only shake her head.

That is when Hiccup started to mimic someone the villagers in Berk, repeating their phrases that came off their tongues so easily yet left deep scars for him. "What are you doing out? Get back inside! Look who decided to be a toothpick tonight, Hiccup the useless. The worse Viking on Berk. Never where he should be." He tried not to cry as he told her, "even my own father would rather have this beefy Viking son rather than this," he gestured to his skinny self. "Hell, training dragons and making peace with them couldn't even change his mind apparently." He sniffled remembering the day in the Great Hall getting his portrait painted and it ended up being someone he didn't recognize. A Viking made to be the Chief's son. He even caught Astrid and Ruffnut ogling over the fake Hiccup.

Toothless came up to him to comfort him, which he gave a small quick smirk as he petted the lizard.

Even Eira wanted to comfort the boy in front of her, but didn't when seeing that the Night Fury was doing a better job at it than she would have.

"But," he started, "when I chose to do something. Something I thought was a good thing. Something that should have been a _happy _decision, not only for me but for everyone. Everyone thinks I made the wrong call. That I am miserable and made this grand sacrifice and now it needs to be fixed. That _I _need to be fixed. Yet, no one…" he trailed off trying to formulate his words. "No one even asked me if I even wanted it to be fixed. No one even asked if I really am happy. But then again if someone were to ask me that, I always thought it would at least be the person I married. After all," he looked at Eira when speaking his last words, "you are my wife." Then he looked at the ring on the table and whispered, "At least I thought you were."

She wanted to say something, anything to him. Shew as denied that chance when he held up a hand and shook his head.

"Forget it. I don't need to hear what you have to say. You say enough when you conduct this scheme with Astrid and corner me with all this," he gestured to the ring and the other items he had taken to Dragon Island for the training. "I'm- I'm going on a flight." He walked with Toothless out of the home before Eira could say anything that would stop him and he took off with the black dragon.

The closing of the swinging door caused the tears to finally fall and looking at the ring on the large empty table made it even worse. She fell to her knees and held her head in her hands as she wept. She thought she was giving Hiccup the chance that he wanted. Everyone made it seem that this was what he wanted. That Hiccup and Astrid being together would bring the peace and tranquility that Berk was missing back. That Hiccup would be more confident and happy again if he didn't marry her. It was clear that Astrid would be if the plan had gone the way it was mapped out. Then his words began to sink in. The words and descriptions that he told her about his life before her, before Toothless. It was another moment where Hiccup had open up to her, giving her another answer to figure out the complicated person she had married, and this time she wasn't about to ignore it like she had others. Nor was she about to have anyone but Hiccup tell her different about it. That was the reason she needed to find him and she had a sneaky suspicion where he would be.

It wasn't hard to track down a one-legged Viking and a Night Fury on Berk. Especially, if the two always went to the same hidden cove near Raven's Point. It is where he had always gone to straighten out his overwhelming thoughts or just tried to relax after an exhausted day. Clearly, as soon as he landed he was thinking back on what he had said to Eira. It had him questioning if he was being too harsh on her and then he questioned if he was too self-absorb in what he wanted that he never stopped to think about what Astrid had told him back on Dragon Island. The blonde's words passed through his head as he began to wonder if Eira was happy in their union or if her asking Astrid to talk to him was her way of expressing her displeasement. Then he sighed. He couldn't even take his own advice. He was screaming about asking whether or not if he was happy that he overlooked if she was even happy. Then he started to conclude where she stood. That's when he started to remember all the scrolls and books and notes she was reading and staying up late for the past weeks. He sighed and then held his head in his hands as he realized that all he did was scoff at her own feelings and treated her like how everyone treated him.

"Arg," he groaned.

Toothless sensing his rider's distress and went to lay beside him. He laid his head in the boy's lap and wobbled when feeling his friend's fingers touch his scales gently. He cooed more when hearing a longer but calmer sigh leave the human.

"I don't know Bud. I-I think I messed up and I'm not sure if it's possible to make it right." He looked up at the sky and notice that small white flakes started to fall. A couple hitting his warm skin and melting right away. A sign that winter was creeping closer and closer to them. It also screamed that the beginning of the colder months was going to be a harsh one, especially when it appeared that another blizzard was heading their way. When his breath was turning into smoke it was clear to Hiccup that he and his dragon should be heading in soon. The only problem was that he wasn't sure exactly where to head in at. He didn't want to head back to his own home, not with Eira there and the air still thick between them and he couldn't head to his father's house. The conversation would be too awkward even if the two teens didn't have a fight. The next best thing that he could do was make a small camp inside the nearby cave that was nestled in the cove. The plan was to have Toothless start the fire and hope that if he curled up with the large reptile that it would keep him decently warm through the cold winds throughout the night. So Hiccup stood up and faithfully the dragon followed.

The short journey to the cave was stopped short when Toothless reacted to a snap of a twig and began to growl as he took a defensive stance. His rider copied his posture but also keeping his hand on his scales ready to give the word to attack. However, it took only a couple of seconds to recognize the intruder and the Night Fury's pupils rounded and his teeth retracted towards the guest. It took the human a bit longer to see in the dark lighting to notice exactly who the other person was standing in the cove with them.

"Eira?"

She greeted the two and even laughed when Toothless hopped up to her nudging her to pet him, which she gladly did. She focused on the dragon when answering Hiccup's question.

"What are you doing here?"

"I figured that you would be here when you left. I am happy that I was correct in the assumption."

Her response was not the answer he was expecting and he made that clear to the maiden. "That doesn't exactly tell me why you are here."

She sighed but agreed with him. Even though she agreed, it didn't mean she was fast with the answer he was looking for.

"Well?"

"Well," she started finally taking her eyes off Toothless and focused on the boy standing away from the two of them. Yet as she stared at him she couldn't help but feel that following him out here was slowly starting to feel like a horrible idea. "Well," she trailed off again. She really didn't know what to say to him and so she sighed. "I- I don't know."

He gave her a puzzled gaze raising an eyebrow.

"It all seemed to form better in my head truthfully."

"Always does, doesn't it," he chortled. Both looked at their feet sighing and once again standing apart from each other in silence.

It was the small ounce of courage she managed to gather up within herself that she asked him if they could talk. When he nodded and agreed he ushered both of them to sit on a nearby log so they could be at least comfortable when the conversation started. The only problem was that both of them were trying to start the conversation. It caused both to laugh again but for the fourth time Hiccup being a gentleman that he was allowed her to go first.

Eira wasn't sure how to begin. Jumping right into what was on her mind, what was on both their minds was something she wasn't comfortable with. It was also the reason why she leaned the conversation towards what surrounded them now. Looking up at the soft snow falling sky and seeing the twinkling of the stars and moon put a smile on her face. "It seems like a beautiful night for a flight."

His green eyes looked up, "it would be if it weren't for the snow and cold. Toothless doesn't always fly so well with those types of winds."

"Oh," she said quietly, "I didn't-"

"It's okay. It does take time to learn about dragons," his voice was sincere when explaining this to her. "No one is ever an expert overnight and no doubt that with time and with your own dragon you'll get the hang of all this."

That's when her sigh made him even more curious at her body language. "I don't think I will ever get a dragon."

"What are you talking about? We'll find you a dragon whether it's a Nadder or a Gronkle. You actually fetch me to be a Monstrous Nightmare type rider. You are good with Hookfang's temperament."

"Hiccup," she called but he kept rambling and so she called out to him again, "Hiccup."

He paused and looked at her giving her his attention.

"It's not the type of dragon that is the problem," she began. She looked down at her lap as she slowly tried to explain to him her meaning about achieving a dragon. "I just don't think I could open myself up to having another bond like you or the other dragon riders have."

"What do you mean? I thought your village wasn't too keen on dragons."

"Oh, the Sea walkers aren't fans of them you are correct with your recall. My father especially not a fan of any sort of pet type creature."

The rider sat there listening to her wondering where she was going to go with her story and how it tied into owning a dragon.

"I was a little girl when I found her."

"Her?"

She smiled, "Dust. She was covered in the fireplace ash making her so dusty and the name kind of stuck, at least for me."

He could understand as he looked towards Toothless.

"My father always yelled denying any animal to set foot into his home. That he didn't have time to keep an eye out for an animal while also looking out for the entire village and his family. It didn't matter that it was a lizard or a bird or even a horse my father was not happy with the idea of me having a pet. He always released them or gave them to other families in the tribe, but when I found Dust I didn't want him to get rid of her. I cleaned her up and hid her under my bed. At least the for the first day I had her." She chuckled at the memory, the grin on her face wide and bright even in the dark. "The second day however my mother found her and almost had a heart attack. She was caught stealing the herring from the breakfast dishes. I still remember how tight she held me as I begged her not to throw her outside. How she needed me since I rescued her. I remember telling my mom that Dust was all alone, just like I was. I honestly think that is what convinced her in the end."

Hiccup was captive with the story that he asked, "What happen to her?"

Eira kept smiling as she continued her tale. "My mom kept up with my father's rule. No animals."

He was about to apologize for the horrible memory and how wrong she was treated until she continued.

"That didn't mean that I couldn't keep her in an abandoned stable. That's where my mother kept her for me. She told me to keep her safe and keep her a secret. She also told me that I had to feed her every day or else someone else would find her. And so every day I went to her, fed her, and kept her company. I would even sing her the same lullaby my mother would sing to me."

"Is that the same tune you are always humming?" he asked.

The young girl nodded solemnly and she started to softly sing the tune. Toothless laying his head on her lap as she did so. "Over and under and around the bend. There you will meet an unlikely friend. Someone who needs you. Someone who protects you. Someone who'll love you… until the end." She trailed off quietly as she hit the last note of the song, her fingers lightly running her fingers over the reptile's scales. She smiled as she heard Toothless cooed and sighed. "Dust was my best friend and was the only comfort I had in that village, especially after my mother passed away."

Hiccup placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort understanding the loss she was feeling.

"I can't find anyone else like her and leaving her just to find a suitor, a husband. I don't think I can go through that type of loss again. Dust was…" she took a shaky breath to calm her state of mind now, "I don't-"

"Hey I get it," he stopped her so she wouldn't relive the pain anymore. "I don't think I could replace Toothless either if I was in your shoes."

She wiped a tear away from her eye but soon conjured up a smile and a nod.

Hiccup then asked her, "You know since you are living here you could get her back. We could go to your old tribe after the ice breaks and get her if you want."

Her heart was swelling with joy at his proposal, but she shook her head instead. "No, it's alright."

"But-"

"Hiccup, knowing Dust she is most likely gone by now. I don't think there is a reason for her to stay there waiting for me if I am not there. I at least tell myself that she ran away and is living a healthy life. It's better than thinking that she could be…"

"I am sure she is," he broke. "From what you describe her to be she's most likely living the best life she could have and that's all thanks to you."

She sighed in relief at hearing those words. Words that she didn't know she needed to hear. To hold back her tears though she looked up at the night sky again and blinked several times until her composer was back.

"Eira," Hiccup called out but she was still looking anywhere but at him. Even Toothless was receiving her attention more than he was. He took that as a sign that he shouldn't push the subject that they were on anymore and stayed silent. He looked around the area listening to the sound of the still night and allowing his thoughts to turn in his head. All of it stopped when catching sight of the glimmer of gold around his left ring finger. He then remembered why all of them were out there which caused him to sigh. He was becoming upset again remembering how they treated him. How they acted like he didn't know any better or how they seemed to know what was best for him whether than ask him. However, before he continued down his seething path of being outraged by them he remembered the conclusion he came up with right before Eira found them. This made him sigh out her name once more.

She responded with a quiet yes.

He didn't look at her when he asked his question. Instead, he was fiddling with his own wedding band. "Are you happy here?"

"It's a little cold," she answered, "but I am sure once we get inside it will be better."

He chuckled knowing that she was trying to make light of the situation but he was trying to be serious. They needed to be serious with each other now. "No, not actually here. I mean on Berk are you happy living here? Being in this marriage? With me?"

Her blue eyes couldn't look at him even though she could feel his own staring intently at her waiting for what she was about to say to him. "I don't know what you would want to hear from me," she said quietly after a few minutes.

That didn't make him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel a bit anxious about what she said. "All I want is the truth. Your truth."

"My truth huh," she said calculating her next words carefully she answer the questions that he had asked her. "You want to hear my truth about our marriage?"

He nodded waiting patiently for her words.

"I didn't want to get married. I didn't want to marry anyone," she clarified making sure to let him know that it wasn't in fact because of him. "A part of me wishes to be back home listening to my father drone about his day with the villagers. To sneak away and curl with Dust in the forest. I want to be back home. Back to some normalcy for me."

Hiccup looked sadden by her answer as he stayed focused on his ring. His thumb lightly spinning it on his finger. He couldn't blame her for what she was saying, he did ask for the truth after all. He just didn't know why it stung as bad as it did. Before he could speak Eira continued.

"Yet, I learned new things on Berk that I would have never dreamt of back home. Seen things that I didn't think was possible between people and dragons. I even made friends, something I didn't think was possible for myself."

Seeing her smile made a smile appear on Hiccup's own face.

"Then there's you," she said.

"Me?"

"Yes, you," she giggled wanting to shove him lightly but couldn't because of a Night Fury between them. "You Mr. Hiccup Haddock are something that could only be described as someone in a tall tale. Rumors. Stories that you would tell kids at night to either keep them in line or to bring comfort."

Hiccup blushed at that scratching the back of his head. "I- I don't know about all that."

"But it's true," she tried to convince him. "One of the reasons why my father came to Berk was because another Chief mention your grand tales. Fierce enough to tame a dragon and powerful enough to kill one the size of a mountain. Brave enough to look in the eyes of Hel's beast and not even blink."

"Uh," Hiccup took a look at himself and was very confused on how anyone would get that type of description of him.

"I was expecting a mountain of a Viking on the docks the day I met you."

"Great," he thought sarcastically.

"Instead of a beefed-up masculine man that I saw repeatedly on my journey, I was pleasantly surprised to be introduced to you the fearless dragon trainer of Berk. A boy who had kind eyes and looked like he was about to throw up just the same as me."

"You throw up?" he asked in a chuckle, "You didn't seem at all as nervous as I was. In fact, you looked very… collected," he spoke and then thought, "Beautiful even."

Eira smiled as she had her fingers danced along Toothless' scales calming the dragon even more. His warm sighing keeping her warm in the cold. "Well, you certainly gave me the best compliment I received in those past months."

"I did?"

She nodded. "Apparently I didn't smell too bad," she joked and laughed as he groaned holding his head in his hands, clearly not wanting to relive that moment. She calmed him though, "It's alright it was something I was nervous about, seeing as I spent months on end in a ship filled with grown Vikings at sea. It's really hard to be presentable to a suitor when you live on a boat with all fellas and showers are hard to come by."

He did relax a bit but what she had just told him made him curious, "How long were you sailing for before arriving here?"

She paused trying to recall how long the pursuit had actually gone on for. "Hm, well I know my father sent out letters at first. At least that is what he had told me and only a few responded back. It was only when the Viking who won the battle of future Chieftain stated that it would be a good idea to present me to other tribes, that's when my father called for the expedition. That took about a month to prepare and after that, I would say a few months until we came to Berk."

"Wait," Hiccup tried to understand what was being said to him. "Your father told my dad and me that he gave you a week to decide if you wish to be wed. It was the only reason why I was given so many days to decide about the proposal."

She was now confused at what was said and she shook her head towards Hiccup. "No, I had a week to pack before going on the voyage. A week to even know what exactly was going on. It's the reason why I wasn't able to see Dust before I left. My father had me under watch at our home until the boat was prepared that way I wouldn't run away. There was no choice for me except to accept my fate that I would be used as a tribal alliance. Even though I already knew that was my future since I was just a child," she muttered the last line under her breath, but Hiccup heard her.

It made his blood boil. The Southern Sea Walker tribe really were misogynistic within their tribe. Eira had no choice in the matter and he wanted to take Toothless and show everyone in that tribe how fearsome the Dragon Conquer could be, yet he couldn't. He knew it would be pointless, but it did come back to his earlier question he had for Eira. He sighed trying to calm his anger and asked her, "Then tell me do you want to be married?"

Her small nod made him sigh in relief but it came crashing down when he specified exactly who the marriage was with.

"Even with someone like me?"

"Hiccup," she said softly turning to look at him, but his eyes were focused on his lap.

He knew that tone of his name. He knew it all too well. It was a tone that people use when they don't want to give you bad news, but they have to. So in a defeated voice, he tried not to make her feel guilty about her decision. "I get it, so don't feel too bad about it. At least this time you can confidently say you made a choice in the matter."

She copied his sad sigh. Her heartfelt like a rock in her chest as she told him, "I just know that Astrid and you were the next great couple on Berk. It just seems easier for you to continue your relationship with her than to have me be a wrinkle in your tribe's plan."

"The tribe's plan? What plan?" He asked until it dawned on him and he groaned. "Oh, do not tell me you have been talking to the twins about this?"

She gulped, "Maybe… and maybe also Snotlout and Fishlegs."

He hung his head and that received a response from his dragon to walk over to him and try to comfort his rider. "Of course they would be talking to her about this huh Bud?"

Toothless just growled softly tilting his head at what his human was saying to him.

Eira on the other hand was a bit confused, "Am I missing something?"

"Yes, actually, something big too since neither Astrid nor I told anyone about what happened here before I even agreed to marry you. Funny thing is that it was your father who even convinced me to talk to Astrid about all this." Before she could even ask Hiccup continued, "I already asked her about her thoughts on me marrying someone else. I even asked her what she would do if she were asked to marry me."

Eira eyes cast downward somewhat sadden to know that she was really keeping two people apart because of some stupid alliance her father wanted.

"Needless to say her answer was quite clear then and it is even clearer now after our _conversation_ on Dragon Island."

"Which is?"

Hiccup took a deep breath, "I don't think we can be in that stage of our lives anymore. I at least can't be with her. Sure we'll be friends, even close friends, but when it comes to being a couple," he shook his head emphasizing what he was saying, "yeah, no. I don't see myself being with Astrid that way. She has her own dreams to accomplish and I have mine, though I am still figuring out what those might be."

"You'll get there eventually," she politely smiled.

He smiled back, but then felt the ring on his hand again and realized he still didn't receive a clear answer from her. "So about us?"

"Hm?"

"Well, the question still remains unanswered. Do you still want to be in this marriage?"

She sighed and Hiccup watched as she pulled out her ring from her pocket. She stared at it as it sat in the palm of her hand. Her thumb running along with the cool metal.

"Maybe I should ask the question a different way?" he thought. "Make sure she knows there would be no consequences if she did say no."

He didn't have to though. Eira said everything in the moment when she took the small ring and placed it back on her finger. She flashed him a smile and stood up offering her hand to him. He took it and she helped him stand up. Toothless helping them stay balanced on their feet by being some support. Both teens were smiling at one another as small snowflakes began getting caught in their hair. It made Hiccup make the decision that they should be heading back to their house. The Night Fury was already excited about the idea of going back home since that meant another chance of spreading his wings. Hiccup could only chuckle and roll his eyes at the big lizard, but he wouldn't ride him if the girl in front of him didn't feel up to it as well.

"Are you up for a ride?"

His smile caused her cheeks to become a shade pinker but she nodded, "I did say it was a beautiful night."

"That you did," he smirked as he helped her get settled on the saddle. Toothless doing his best to be still for her and Hiccup as they climbed aboard.

She sat in front of him like their first flight and she held tightly onto the handles that were there on the saddle. Before they did take off she told him, "Please don't let me fall."

He gripped around her waist and leaned in close to her ear. In a hushed whisper, he said one word that made her blush, "Never."

He gave a silent signal for Toothless to take off and in a matter of moments, they were in the night sky taking a slow careful flight back to their warm home where they could finally, get some sleep and relax after the hard obstacle they had just over came in their relationship.

**A/n: Finally a flipping update! Please enjoy it and please PLEASE leave a review.**


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